Gazing Into The Abyss
by MorbidxAngel
Summary: Six WWE Superstars take a trip to a disused Mental Asylum for a photo shoot, unbeknownst to them, the asylum holds terrible dark secrets. This is a tale of survival, horrifying murder and disturbing violence. You have been warned. //COMPLETE\\
1. Prologue: Dancing Shadows

**This came from one of the dark corners of my mind... Actually it came from a ghost story that a friend of mine made up. Obviously I've put a Morbid Angel twist on things so this should be quite good.**

**Disclaimer: Everything that you read within this story is fiction. The WWE wrestlers own themselves. Any original characters belong to me as does the name of the mental asylum. No WWE superstars were harmed during the making of this story.**

**Prologue  
**_**Dancing Shadows**_

Dark skies loomed over the grassy hill, extending out towards a vast deserted land. Dead leaves of grey coloration dangled and swayed clumsily through the light breeze as it passed around the sagging trees which had long since been dying from the unbearable heat and drenching rain storms. It seemed that this land had suffered greatly due to the extreme weather, causing browning grass and rotting fungus clinging to stones and various damp logs.

Through the deep valley, stood a massive building with wrought iron spires extending from the rotundas, each placed on each wing of the structure. Deep crimson brick lined the exterior walls, rising up to meet those of the grey pallor roof. The structure was in fact enticingly beautiful with its Victorian style window panes and luxurious design. At first glance, it looked like an absolutely marvellous hotel; its comfort ready to be used by all.

Although it seemed like the perfect welcoming place, the truth of what this building stood for was evident behind the walls. No comfort or relaxation passed through these dark corridors, nor was there much evidence of hospitality. This dark place which loomed over the deep valley and created a murky shadow across the land, in which it was built, was less than beautiful and marvellous.

This was David Bethlem Manor (more commonly known as The Bedlam Manor), a mental asylum built in the late 1800's for those who suffered from various mental and quite often disturbing illnesses.

For years, patients were sent here by their families to be treated, usually with shock therapy and all sorts of severely painful treatments. Moral treatment was the most popular form of therapy. This type of treatment was influenced by social norms, religious beliefs, medical expertise, and scientific theory. What all of this meant was, the patients were isolated from seeing their families and forced into the care of nurses and doctors.

Although, it may not seem so bad to be locked up in an asylum to be treated for an illness one could not control, the screams of fright and pain still echoed down the corridors and continued long into the night. This place was not peaceful, nor was it 

calm in any way. This building was filled with such disturbing horrors that it was unimaginable to one's mind.

The torture that went on here…really did feel like death. Some patients would be strapped to their beds, forced into dark isolation as others were tied to metal slabs, ready for either painful treatment or experimentation. It was evident that this sickening structure was not a good place to live in.

Even though the death toll of patients rose with each year, there was still a surprising amount of overcrowding taking place. Some patients were set loose upon the world while others remained confined due to public danger…

* * *

_1986_

The darkness of the room became interrupted as a small lamp was flicked on, causing shadows to dance against the concrete walls within the small interrogation chamber. Here, patients were sat down on one side of the table as the doctor on the other side would observe and attempt to diagnose them.

It was a long and gruelling task, but it had to be done nonetheless. Thunder had already begun to roll through the clouds as the doctor made his way to his chair and sat down, opening a small manila file. He glanced across the table towards the small sixteen year old boy who from the looks of things seemed quite comfortable being tied to a chair. His soft features remained calm and his eyes, closed as if he were in some sort of thinking trance.

Opening the file slowly, the doctor eyed him with curiosity and intrigue then flipped on the voice recorder which was located in the middle of the metal table. After reading the original file six years ago, he had learned that this boy apparently suffered from multiple personality disorder and was sent here by his Aunt, who claimed he pushed his parents down the stairs of their home and stabbed them over and over again.

When asked why or how he could have done this, he simply replied by saying he had no memory of the event…all the while still covered in blood. He had been ten years old then. Not wanting her distraught nephew going to a juvenile detention centre, she had taken him away to David Bethlem Manor to be treated. It's true that sending a ten year old boy to a mental asylum is cruel and unusual, but his Aunt had never liked him, had always hated him in fact, calling him a freak of nature…for he had not always been right in the head.

The doctor eyed him closely, watching his face twitch lightly to the buzzing sound of the recorder and sat forward. So far, he had only observed one other personality, besides the original to work with. This personality was dark and very devious and far too mature for it to be from a healthy sixteen year old boy.

The doctor assumed that this was the personality that had come forward, enticing the small child to kill his parents. At this point, the dark personality had no identification and usually wished to be referred to as 'unnamed'.

The doctor had no idea which personality would come through tonight, whether it be his own or the 'unnamed' so he had every intention of finding out. He silently hoped that it would be that of the young boy tonight, but lately it had only been the 'unnamed' who spoke through the soft red lips. If the doctor couldn't find a way to help him repress this personality, the child could be lost forever inside the mind of a dangerous and very dark person. And so, he pushed the voice recorder closer to him and proceeded to sit back, watching the boy breathing softly.

Before the doctor had a chance to call out the boy's name, he suddenly noticed as his dark eyes slowly opened and formed a deep almost inhuman glare across his youthful brow. The sheer hatred and violence in his black hollow eyes caused a cold shiver to run up the doctor's spin. The 'unnamed' had clearly made his presence known with just one look.

You see, the doctor could always tell when the young boy was coming through based on his sad eyes and shaking hands. He always look frightened…but not the 'unnamed'. No, this man had confidence…disturbingly frightening confidence. It was as if he was always ready to attack and cause violence, spilling blood against walls and floors. This was the dominant personality for sure and the young, innocent boy never had knowledge of his presence.

The dim glow of the lamp seemed to have increased the shadows beneath his brow, giving him a shaded look of anger. Swallowing hard, he stared at the doctor across from him with a judgemental gaze, wondering briefly what it would be like to see his neck twist and snap and to see his head rolling onto the floor in a bloody heap. The doctor's soft voice rolled off of his tongue, asking to speak with the young boy.

The darker personality tilted his head slightly to the right, feeling the crack in his neck and blinked twice. Through a distant gaze, he slid his tongue down from the roof of his mouth and replied with a loose, gravely tone which sounded much too deep for this sixteen year old boy.

"He wishes not to speak with you."

The doctor leaned forward a bit more and nodded a little, watching every speck of brown within his eyes.

"If he does not wish to speak with me, then let _him_ tell me." The doctor replied with an arched brow of interest.

A tiny smile twitched on the edge of the patient's lips and an amused spark glinted within his eyes.

"You know I cannot allow that to happen Doctor." He replied, giving a heavy sigh.

The doctor sat back and licked his lips, watching the patient closely with a keen eye. Getting to the boy was becoming increasingly difficult because the 'unnamed' had 

become even stronger than he had been before. He had complete control over this poor boy and was not about to let him go without a fight.

"Let me speak to him once…I want to see if he is alright."

"He is comfortable…" The patient replied casually, sinking back into the chair. The doctor blinked quickly as the lamp gave a weak flicker, causing their shadows to dance across the table.

It was spooky and it was eerie…and the doctor did not want to stay in this room for much longer, especially with the patient's gaze piercing him like a bloody dagger. All he wanted was to get this over with for tonight.

"Let me speak to him." He stated, almost ordering him.

The patient continued to peer into his eyes, watching his soul trembling within his body. A hushed silence fell over the room; almost magnifying the sound of the doctor's pounding heart. He did not trust this patient, not one bit for he always caused a shiver to spread up and down his spine and goose bumps to wash over his skin. He just couldn't get the sinking feeling of fright out of his system because he knew something bad was about to happen based on the twisted smile now spreading across the boy's face.

"Tell me Doctor…" he began with that raspy low voice, resonating off the concrete walls.

The doctor sat forward a little more as the lamp began flickering violently when the thunder rumbled above.

"Do you like the dark?" He asked with almost a slow whisper, watching the doctor's eyes widening with terror.

Just as the boy had finished the words, the lamp flickered and popped…sending darkness flooding throughout the room. The only sound which echoed and bounded off the walls was that of the heavily breathing doctor, frozen to his seat.

Deafening silence throbbed in his ears as he attempted to stand up but found that he couldn't because suddenly there was some unseen pressure against him, holding him down. In panic, he instinctively thrashed out, only to feel a tight grip around his wrist.

Then a blood curdling scream pierced through the darkness as flesh was ripped away from flesh and bone was snapped away from bone. The scream lasted for what seemed like an eternity until finally it morphed into a desperately painful whine and stopped with a loud echoing crack.

Silence.

Thick blood dripping silence.

And in the corner of the room through the pitch black darkness, a small gut-wrenching sob was heard. It was not from the doctor, whose eyes rested open in a blank dead stare of terror.

No…it was the cry of a small, shivering sixteen year old boy covered in blood.


	2. Fading Skies

**Disclaimer: Everything that you read within this story is fiction. The WWE wrestlers own themselves. Any original characters belong to me as does the name of the mental asylum. No WWE superstars were harmed during the making of this story.**

**Chapter 2  
**_**Fading Sky**_

_2008_

The black mini- van whizzed past massive oak trees and down into the valley until it hit an unpaved road. The journey down the ravine was to be long and confusing for there were many winding roads extending from the main path out into different parts of the land. If they weren't careful, they would be taking a winding road into the cemetery or perhaps towards the small chapel; two locations which were closed off to the public due to vandalism. Finding the location of their photo shoot was going to be difficult for the six men…especially since Brian Kendrick was the one holding the map.

"Man, where the hell is this fucking place supposed to be?" he demanded while squinting down at the small lines and letters.

Chris Jericho glanced away from the window and stared at the crumpled map resting within the younger man's hands. Asking Brian to read the map was like asking Chris to drive without his contacts…nearly impossible.

"Try…Jesus Brian…" Chris sighed and grabbed the map, turning it the right way up.

"What?" Brian demanded, staring at him with a confused and very helpless look.

"You had the stupid thing upside down." He muttered and looked back at the road, skimming it with his blue eyes and watching the rocks from the gravel path hitting the underside of the bumper.

"Chris, I told you to NEVER give Brian the map…he couldn't even find his ass with both hands let alone some old abandoned building." Jeff Hardy stated from the backseat while staring aimlessly with disinterest out the side window.

" Thanks for being supportive guys that really helps." Brian muttered sarcastically, then turned back to the map in which he was trying to read. So many different colours for cities and landmarks…So many different lines with various thicknesses indicating roads, paths and intersections. As Brian stared at the confusing array of patterns, he quickly wondered who made this map in the first place. He pressed his dark glasses closer to his face and frowned, glancing at Chris whose eyes were glued to the road before him. Brian found it slightly odd that Chris wasn't asking for him to give him directions, not that it would help much.

As Brian watched Chris's tanned face glow under the sun and his blue eyes stare into the ravine, he wondered based on the speed he was driving at, that perhaps he knew where he was going. Matt Hardy sat up in his seat, way in the back of the van and frowned a little as the bushes began to become darker and patchier around the road as if it hadn't been maintained in over a century.

"Hey Brian, where are we?" he piped up, awakening Shawn Michaels from his slumber.

"Beats me. Ask Chris, he seems to know where he's going." He replied, folding the map back up into pamphlet size.

Chris furrowed his brow and blinked quickly at Brian's comment. "Uh…I have no idea where I'm going."

"Then why are you driving so fast?" Mark Calloway said, while attempting to push Shawn off of him who had just closed his eyes for another rest.

"Since when is driving fast an indication of knowing where to go?" The Canadian asked, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

"Well you obviously know you're not going to hit something or run off the road…" Shawn mumbled sleepily while rubbing his eyes and giving a dirty glance towards Mark.

Chris glanced into the rear view mirror and watched as Mark and Shawn began slapping and hitting each other.

"Hey guys knock it off! Save it for the shoot. I don't want to be cleaning blood stains out of the carpet." He explained while ignoring their comments all together. He had no idea why he was driving so fast with confidence. He just had a sinking feeling that there'd be a gate up ahead and that the road would lead to this building. And sure enough, as they continued to drive along the bumpy path…they saw what looked like a massive wrought iron gate with sharp spires extending into the heavens.

The leaves from the oak and willow trees leaned down over the spires and swayed gently through the breeze, creating a soft blanket. It was a beautiful gate…yet creepy all the same.

"Finally! I was wondering how long this trip through the woods was going to take." Brian exclaimed and threw the map into the glove compartment. All six men sat forward in their seats to inspect the grand view before them. Beyond the gate stood lush green grass marked with massive trees and even a babbling brook, meandering through the ravine. And as they stared up into the tops of the trees, they could see the black spires rising from the roof of the structure…The Bedlam Manor in all its glory.

" Holy shit, take a look at this place…" Brian stated in awe as he observed his surroundings closely with a wide open mouth. Chris stopped the van at the gate and squinted a little as a patrol car sped towards the entrance of the gate and stopped. They all watched the officer exit his car and approach the gate, unlocking it from inside…then proceeded to push it open.

The hinges squeaked and hissed as he continued to push the door open so the van could fit through. He then wiped the rust and dirt off of his hands against his pants 

and padded towards the driver's side window of the van while Chris rolled it down. The officer pulled off his shades and eyed Chris suspiciously, staring at the vivid blue within his eyes.

"You the wrestlers?" he asked gruffly, obviously disinterested in the fact that they were millionaires.

"Yes sir…we're here for the photo shoot." Chris replied respectfully with a light tone, indicating he meant no harm. The officer nodded a little and leaned against the window frame, glancing around aimlessly.

"Now you listen here you…" he began with all his infinite law enforcement wisdom. "I get about twenty vandalism cases a week here. Young boys like you coming up here to graffiti every bloody inch of brick and stone. I see one stone or brick out of alignment and I will personally sue every one of you and your fancy billionaire boss, you hear? This structure is meant to be respected…you respect it, and it will respect you. Understand?"

Chris stared at him and blinked slowly, briefly trying to figure out what he meant by 'if you respect it, it will respect you' then brushed if off.

"Yes sir…we understand-."

"–So that means no beer parties and strippers?"

Everyone stared at Brian as he gave the cheesiest smile one man could ever produce. Chris lowered his eyes and gave a heavy sigh as the officer glared deeply, assuring them he was not taking this joke lightly.

"I expect this location to remain quiet…no unwelcome guests and no loud heavy metal banging music. You abide by these rules and maybe you won't get yourselves arrested." He explained.

Brian's smile slowly faded as the officer slid his sunglasses back on and stepped back, putting his hands on his hips then nodded them through. Mike gave a small nod and rolled up his window, but not before giving a dirty stare to Brian who was now frowning at his friend's reaction. Obviously fun was not in their vocabulary today. Jeff shook his head as they drove through and snorted out a sound of disbelief.

"Bri man, what the hell is wrong with you? This isn't the US…the police here don't put up with that cocky and not to mention sarcastic attitude."

Brian turned around in his seat and eyed him with a devious smile. "Yeah well people here need to learn to lighten up. Did you see the dude at the gas... sorry _petrol_ station a while back? He looked like he needed to get lai-."

" –Brian, stop being a cocky bastard and shut the hell up." Chris interrupted suddenly, receiving odd looks from the rest of the guys. It wasn't like him to just blow up at his friend when he usually would have been laughing at that comment. Brian 

lowered his eyes and turned his attention towards Chris as the other tried to hide their smiles.

In corner number one, a sarcastic and not to mention restlessly bored Brian. In corner number two a cranky 'been driving for four hours straight' Chris. Everyone watched as the entertainment slowly began.

"Chris, what the hell is wrong with you? You know how I am around cops... fuzz... _Old Bill_... Whatever they call them in this goddamned country. They make me nervous…which makes me joke around. Besides, he knew it was a joke."

"That's not the point. I don't want to have to bail you out of jail because you were being a smartass. I want to get this photo shoot over with and go back to the hotel." He replied with irritation as the leaves whipped at the windows.

"Chis no offence but you are starting to sound like that gas station guy. It's like everyone is irritated about being here. It's nature! It's the outdoors! Enjoy the smell of leaves and the sound of wasps flying around trying to kill people! It's a beautiful building-."

"–It's an abandoned mental asylum. I hardly call that beautiful and if you weren't such an idiot you would see how creepy this place is." Chris stated harshly, shutting Brian's mouth in an instant. Everyone remained silent as they drove up to the building and stopped on the gravel parking lot out front. Brian ripped off his seat belt and glared, slamming himself out of the van. Chris watched as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, sucking in the heavenly taste of nicotine.

Great, this photo shoot was going to be awkward and uneasy just because they couldn't get along. Besides, couldn't Brian see how creeped out he was by this building?

It was as if it were staring down at him…watching him…judging him. He just couldn't get that shiver to stop running up and down his spine every time he fell under the building's shadow.

Chris exited the vehicle along with his fellow wrestlers and listened to the sound of the sliding doors shutting. Matt came around front and smiled as Mark smacked Shawn in the face in an attempt to wake him up a little more. Besides, they couldn't have a sleepy Shawn on camera now could they?

"Ugh bastard, I'm tired…" he breathed while rubbing his head wearily.

"Sleeping is for the weak, Michaels." Mark stated proudly, smacking him on the back in a friendly manner.

"No, sleeping is for the TIRED." He retorted with a frown. Matt shook his head and walked over towards Chris as Jeff and Mark began chatting with Shawn. He watched the Canadian peering towards Brian who was sporting a small frown and exhaling the cigarette smoke heavily.

"Don't you think you were a little hard on him?" he asked with his usual soft tone that instantly made Chris's eyes soften with regret. The way Matt could make anyone feel apologetic about anything was a true gift and Chris admired him for his patience. Even as he stared into the ECW Champion's dark eyes…he could see the uneasiness this place was setting upon him.

"Brian needs to learn when to shut his mouth."

"Brian has never been quiet."

Chris gave a small smile and nodded, glancing back at Brian who was kicking around some gravel. "Sorry…I'm just not really feeling like myself today, that's all."

"Well maybe you should be telling Brian that." Matt replied, giving him a sincere smirk which only made Chris's smile grow. Damn, Matt was always right.

"Yeah I will…thanks man…"

"No problem." Matt answered and walked away towards the other guys who were now kicking around some rocks…well kicking rocks at each other and making dirt and dust fly.

As Chris walked towards Brian, he distantly heard Matt telling them to knock it off because they'd be all dirty for the shoot. He smiled inwardly and stopped beside Brian who was looking around the land with a slight look of uneasiness. Chris didn't know if it was because he had snapped at him earlier or because there was something else going on with him.

"Hey man…"

"Hey…" Brian replied quietly, never once looking at him. Chris swallowed hard and squinted through the dimming sun, watching the birds flying away from the structure.

"Look Brian…I'm sorry for-."

"–Where's the camera crew?"

Mike frowned at the sudden interruption and looked around the parking lot, raising his brow with confusion.

"Um…what?"

"The camera crew…they're not here. Wouldn't they be here before us?" Brian asked, his frown deepening in thought. Chris stared silently into the clouding skies and gave a small shaky sigh, feeling Brian's questioning gaze now burning into him. This whole situation felt odd to them and they both knew it.

It became evident as the seconds flew by…that something was wrong.


	3. Dark News

**Disclaimer: Everything that you read within this story is fiction. The WWE wrestlers own themselves. Any original characters belong to me as does the name of the mental asylum. No WWE superstars were harmed during the making of this story.**

**Chapter 3  
**_**Dark News**_

Chris flipped open his cell phone and dialled the photo shoot company's number as Brian flicked his cigarette butt onto the gravel ground, grinding it into the soil. He watched Chris's vivid blue eyes scanning the greying skies while the phone buzzed and buzzed as each ring was sent through.

Brian stared down at the smoking cigarette butt in the ground, eyeing each whiff of smoke as they dissipated into the breezy air. The odd thing was the smoke kept burning into the air, never dying. It was as if someone was sucking at the small cigarette butt, causing the end to stay heated. The sheer sight of the burning embers on the edge of the butt caused a wave of goose bumps to attack Brian's lightly tanned skin. Why was it still burning?

"Bri?"

Brian jumped suddenly at the voice and turned his head to see Jeff, Shawn, Matt and Mark coming up beside him with frowns of interest.

"Yeah…" he replied hoarsely, clearing his throat.

"Chris on the phone with someone?" Shawn asked casually while kicking at some rocks.

"Photo shoot company. They haven't shown up yet and we wanted to know when they were gonna get here." Brian explained as he listened to Chris muttering something into his phone; his voice echoing off the walls of the brick structure.

"That damn company is late for everything. I say next time we use a different one so that we're not stuck out in the middle of God knows where by ourselves." Jeff stated with dark eyes, feeling the light breeze whispering against his skin. Mark nodded and crossed his arms, leaning back against the hood of the van while Matt coughed lightly as the dust around them was thrown around with the growing wind.

Shawn squinted into the clouds and raised a brow, swearing he could already feel light spits of water coming down from the skies.

"Guys, it's getting pretty stormy out here…" he warned, eyeing Brian suddenly. Chris flipped his phone closed and stepped towards his friends with a grim look upon his brow.

Obviously this was bad news.

"So where are they?" Brian asked with a concerned look adorning his baby-face. Chris sighed heavily and stuffed his phone back into his pocket before replying.

"There's a massive storm building out where they are and the flight was delayed."

Groans and moans of irritation and annoyance echoed throughout the yard, hitting the brick walls.

"So how long until they can get the plane to... Where the hell are we anyway?" Matt asked calmly while running a hand through his soft dark hair. Chris gave an uneasy sigh, staring into each of their eyes. More bad news apparently.

"Well it's not that easy. The company decided to pull away from the flight-."

"–Are you fucking kidding me?" Jeff interrupted, his cheeks growing hot with impatience.

"Jeff let me explain. They said they'd wait the storm out and then board a different flight on a different day. There's just too much luggage and equipment to carry around and they need to grab three more people." Chris replied as they all stared at him with angry looks.

"So how long do they intend on stranding us out here for?" Brian demanded. Chris bit his bottom lip and stuffed his hands into his pockets, watching their glares deepening even further. He knew they were not going to like this next bit of news.

"Depending on how long the storm lasts and the length of the flight…along with overnight stays at hotels and a six hour drive out here…probably around three days, seven at max." He explained nervously.

"A week? We are stuck out here for a fucking week…how perfect…" Jeff growled, rolling his eyes.

"So…what do we do?" Shawn asked, ignoring Jeff's growls of annoyance. Chris stared at them with a dark shaded look upon his brow, feeling the wind picking up and blowing his black tee shirt around his caramel skin.

"We can either take a six hour drive back to the hotel and pay for six more nights, which I might add is not in our budget, or…"

"Or what?" Brian asked as Chris swallowed hard in thought. He didn't want to be the bearer of bad news and he knew they'd never go for it…but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"We could stay here…"

All five men stared at him silently for several moments, taking in his shaky words. Stay here? What kind of alternative was that anyway? This building was probably a good one hundred years old and didn't exactly have all the amenities of a five star hotel. Besides, the roof was crumbling and dipping and the floors were full of water damage…not to mention the mould on the walls.

If anything, this place was a cesspool of disease and sickness. Since they lacked the funds to stay in a hotel for perhaps seven days, staying at The Bedlam Manor was probably the only choice they had.

"We have to stay inside an abandoned mental asylum for seven days…" Mark stated in quiet disbelief as they all turned their attention towards Chris again, hoping there was another alternative.

After seeing the helpless look upon his face, it was evident that there was none and that staying here was obligatory.

"Sorry guys..." He sighed while turning around to eye the massive building before them. His ears perked a bit as the guys trampled towards the front French doors, peering inside the dusty old foyer. Brian hung back beside Chris and stared up at the spires, which were extending up into the heavens…seeming to block out the already fading sun.

"You feel that?" he asked quietly, making sure the others couldn't hear. Chris blinked slowly and frowned, swallowing the nervous lump in his throat.

"Feel what?" he asked, unsure of what Brian was referring to. Brian sighed heavily and glanced at Chris, shrugging lightly.

"I don't know. It just seems like ever since we got here…" He trailed off, allowing Chris time to fill in the blanks with his own mind, silently conquering.

"Yeah I know…it's like there's a million shadows staring at us…watching us…taunting us. Every time I look at this place I just get this feeling that our problems are just beginning…" he explained cautiously, hoping that's what Brian was feeling.

The younger man dipped his head beneath the sombre gaze of the structure, shivering slightly as the sun was finally clouded by the coming storm. A small rumble of thunder was heard in the distance, echoing off the surrounding skies.

"This place gives me the fucking creeps…" he muttered, padding off towards the others who were jiggling the old doorknob violently. Suddenly, as if someone from inside had poked it with a key, it creaked open leaving the six men shocked and surprised.

"Okay…I thought this place was always locked…" Shawn whispered, eyeing the door suspiciously. Chris came up behind them and frowned as Matt pushed his hand against the cold wood, creating a wider opening for them all to get through.

"Guess that cop unlocked it for us…" Mark gave him a doubtful look and entered first, and then finally the rest followed into the dim foyer, all except for Shawn who had run back to the van to grab his laptop. Looking around, they soon began to notice that this place was even bigger from the inside.

Up against the eastern wall stood a long row of olive green plastic seats where visitors could sit while waiting for the desk clerk to tend to them…even the patients would sit here to stare out the small barred and heavily locked windows. The front desk was large and possibly made out of some kind of cherry wood or red oak. Each wall that had been a bare white were now stained over the years and peeled a little, showing an off white paint colour that no one should ever use again.

The flooring was absolutely mucky and damp with dried up leaves spewing everywhere. All the moisture from the floor had begun to rot the low ceiling, creating yellow water spots and a rancid mildew smell over the entire building. If the band wasn't already sick from just standing in the dusty foyer, they would be in seven days for sure.

As the guys slowly formed around the oak desk, Chris stood near the wall, observing the graffiti decorations which had been painted probably months, if not years ago. His brow lowered with disgust as he stared at one image that some punk must have painted about anarchy and Satan, telling everyone to worship all that is evil.

Chris's dark eyes reflected the faded red and black paint, now seeping into the walls with the mould and moisture. Shawn rushed back into the building and whizzed past Chris, creating a breeze that instantly woke him from his thoughts. Chris approached the desk as the rest of the guys watched Shawn open up his laptop, turning it on. Ah the wireless web, where would they be without it? Mark frowned a little, wondering what Shawn was doing but didn't have time to ask on account of he had already begun explaining his actions.

"You see, I was thinking since we're gonna all be here for a while…we should dig up some juicy grub on this place!" He explained excitedly, pounding on the keyboard.

Matt lowered his eyes uneasily and glanced at Jeff and Brian who both shared the same nervous expression. Did they really want to know anything about this place? It seemed pretty obvious it was abandoned for a reason…wasn't that enough?

"Shawn…have you actually thought about what you're doing? Its hard enough we have to stay here for seven days…knowing what happened here could potentially ruin this week-."

"–Are you scared Jeff?" Shawn asked with an arched brow, staring into the screen with interest. Jeff stared at him with a clenched jaw and suddenly became aware of all the hard gazes from his friends. Great, they were going to think he was a sissy.

"Uh…n-no, I'm not scared. I'm just…creeped out that's all…" he replied shakily, swallowing hard. Mark gave a small smile, patting him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry man…if the mental cases that were chained up in the basement begin to chase after you, I'm sure Shawn would be happy to stand in their way for you." He explained.

Shawn looked up slowly as Jeff chuckled with Mark, followed closely by Matt. Brian hid his smile and glanced at Chris who did not share their amusement. For some reason, he looked a little distant and distracted away from his friends who were still joking around with each other about Jeff's ridiculous fears. Perhaps there was something on his mind.

"Okay so I found something about this place. Anyone care to take a listen?" Shawn asked, moving his brow up and down with a devious smile.

Chris blinked quickly and sighed, pulling himself back into reality as the voices of his friends echoed around the room with interest. Shawn stared at the page of information and licked his lips, readying himself to read.

"Alright, this is a news article from 1986 when this place closed down. Says here the closure was due to overcrowding and budget cuts, forcing patients out of the asylum and doctors to find new jobs. But as a source says, the budget cuts weren't the only reason why this place closed down."

_In November 1986, David Bethlem Manor (known to outsiders as The Bedlam Manor), the massively beautiful mental asylum responsible for the treatment of hundreds of patients was closed down. A source close to the staff says the reason for this closure was not because of the budget cuts, nor overcrowding although those factors did help. The real reason, stated by the source, says that a wide range of violent and brutally disturbing murders had occurred in the building. _

_Senior staff of the asylum had kept the murders under wraps from the rest of the staff in an attempt to keep the calm while they investigated these murders. It was not until the head doctor at this facility was murdered that the word quickly began spreading throughout the workers and even a few patients who were determined to remain in their rooms under lockdown until the murderer was found. _

_The manner in which these murders were committed were rapid and messy varying from stabbings in the heart to cut off heads. The most brutal murder had been of the head doctor…his remains strewn all over his office, his head chopped off and squeezed between the bars of his window and his torso strung up by dental floss to the ceiling, allowing the blood to pool around the floor beneath. It is stated that a nurse walking down the hall had seen the blood oozing out from under the door. She fainted at the scene._

_Further investigation of these murders concluded that a patient, stationed in room 203 was found crying and shivering…covered in blood after the discovery of his decapitated psychiatrist. This patient had suffered from multiple personality disorder and was suspected of the murder. There are no further details about the patient, nor what happened after the long stream of murders had ceased. Had the patient been executed or worse…released?_

_Some say after the closure of the asylum, the homicidal patient still roamed the halls and courtyard out back. Others say he hanged himself from the northern spire. What really happened to the frighteningly dangerous patient remains a mystery. Many believe that these murders had caused the closure of the asylum…that and the budget cuts._

Shawn looked up from the screen slowly and swallowed nervously, watching the faces of his friend's pale. Obviously this wasn't the best article to be reading…especially since they were standing in the eerie building, which was becoming darker due to the growing storm. Since the electricity in the building had been drained long ago, they'd have to rely on the sun's light and flashlights to brighten their way through the halls. Jeff frowned and turned off Shawn's laptop, receiving a loud whimper of annoyance.

"Hey man, what the hell? I was still reading that!"

"Story time is over." Jeff replied with a dark gaze. It was evident through the silence that the rest of the band didn't want to hear anymore either.

"So what are you going to do? Break my computer?" Shawn demanded furiously.

"No, I want you to take it back to the van and grab the coolers from our road trip. We should still have enough food and water to last us seven days." He explained while picking up the laptop and pushing it into Shawn's arms.

They all watched as Shawn lowered his eyes with disagreement and proceeded out the front door towards the van. Everyone knew how curious Shawn was but perhaps it was in his best interest to lay off the controversial stories for a while. Besides, if they were going to live here for seven days, they would have to keep the ghost stories to a minimum. Being paranoid and frightened was the last thing they needed.

"I'll go help him. I think we even have some flashlights rolling around somewhere in the van." Matt muttered quietly and stomped outside towards the van to help. Jeff and Mark muttered something about finding a cafeteria to keep the coolers in and disappeared down the hall, leaving Chris and Brian alone in the musty foyer.

Soon, Mark and Jeff's voices faded, creating a thick, uncomfortable silence throughout the corridors. Brian crossed his arms, listening to the water from the ceiling drip into small puddles of mud absorbed into the grout of the flooring.

"Chris, you okay?" he asked quietly, hearing his voice creating a small echo throughout the empty room. Chris stared down at the desk where the laptop had been located and breathed in shakily. All of this seemed a little odd…and slightly familiar. He couldn't remember where he had heard that story from but he definitely _had_ heard it somewhere.

"Yeah, I'm fine…just thinking…" he replied, giving a small smile of confidence. Brian lowered his eyes and shook his head, doubting Chris's statements.

"You seem a little quiet. Are you sure you're okay?" he asked with a low tone. Chris blushed a little at his concern, feeling slightly thankful that his friend cared at all.

"Yeah Brian, I'm okay. Like I've said…this place just screams bad news and it's creeping me out hardcore." He mumbled while looking around the foyer with disinterest.

"Well I guess that's natural since this is an abandoned mental asylum." Brian chuckled, eliciting a small laugh from his friend, who nodded.

"Can't disagree with you there."

"Well, Matt and Shawn are coming back from the van…" Brian stated while looking out the small windows.

"Let's head to the cafeteria and see if we can't cook something up." He finished with a hungry smile.

"I'm there." Chris replied with a smile of equal size as Shawn and Matt treaded into the foyer holding the coolers and flashlights.

"Little help guys…" Shawn squealed as he attempted not to drop all the objects he was carrying. Chris rushed over and grasped the cooler as Shawn sighed with relief now holding the flashlights.

Brian grabbed another cooler from Matt who had bothered to carry two since Joe had complained about being weak.

"Okay guys…let's eat…" Shawn sighed happily and nearly bounced down the hallways because he was only carrying two packages of flashlights. Chris, Brian and Matt stared at each other for a long moment with lowered eyes.

"He's going to be pulling the 'I can't help out I'm weak thing' all week isn't he?" Matt asked.

Chris and Brian stared at him silently and blinked slowly as if the answer was obvious.

"Right…it's Shawn…" Matt muttered to himself and followed them down the hall towards the cafeteria with a crooked smile.

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers:** _Dark Kanenite, __Edward's Josie Black _**and**_ Mosvie 2k8_

_Loves ya!_

_Angel  
xxx_


	4. Pale Opening

**Disclaimer: Everything that you read within this story is fiction. The WWE wrestlers own themselves. Any original characters belong to me as does the name of the mental asylum. No WWE superstars were harmed during the making of this story.**

**Chapter 4  
**_**Pale Opening**_

It had been a marvellous feast of peanut butter sandwiches and cheesy puffs, ending all hunger the group of wrestlers might have felt from that long drive here. They all sat back against the wall and chatted with each other quietly while observing the massive stainless steel basins and sterile tiled walls.

Ovens, stoves and various kitchen appliances were spread throughout the huge kitchen (which they had now deemed their cafeteria) including two large industrial sized freezers to store meats and dairy products. This kitchen would probably still have been in use, aside from the lacking electricity and dented floors.

Each wall was still that same off white colour, except for the southern wall which had a faded Scottish flag painted on. Apparently the chefs and cooks needed a morale booster, for the hours in the kitchen were long and irregular, often causing irritability and fatigue. The last thing anyone wanted was some restless chef cooking an oven mitt instead of a roast. Shawn gave a heavy belch and dropped his soda can beside him, receiving an annoyed look from Chris. Apparently belching wasn't in their vocabulary today either.

"What? It's natural. If I hadn't of burped, the gasses would have been stored inside me for years and eventually I would have exploded. Kaboom!"

Mark and Brian snickered in the corner, watching Shawn flailing his hands around, attempting to create the image of what an exploding person might look like. Chris sighed heavily and shook his head, standing up and stretching his already aching back.

"Fine, you can be immature all you want." He muttered as the other guys stood up as well.

"Thank you…I will…" Shawn smiled in response to Chris's remark. Brian blinked wearily, feeling quite comfortable with his full stomach and stared up at the crumbling ceiling, wondering if perhaps it would cave in on them.

"Hey, how many floors you guys think this place has?" he asked curiously, watching the grime and grease shine against the tiles. Matt shrugged and took a quick look around before replying.

"Maybe…nine…twelve…I don't know. This place is pretty big. I wonder how long it took them to build it."

"I say for the sake of boredom, we take a look around." Jeff suggested casually while wiping the cheesy puff powder off of his slender fingers.

" Around…the abandoned mental asylum…" Mark muttered in disbelief. Even though he was quite curious himself about what kind of weird rooms this building had, he still wasn't very keen on perhaps falling through a floorboard or stumbling into a dark room and falling into a mucky bathtub filled with maggots. Although the likelihood of falling into a tub of maggots was less than two percent, he still didn't want to be walking around a mucky old building which once housed a crazed patient who had killed most of the patients and staff.

" Well what else are we going to do? Sit on the floor for seven days, driving each other insane…which is kind of ironic based on where we are right now…" Jeff explained with an arched brow.

Mark sighed heavily and gave a small nod, agreeing silently. " Fine, let's go then."

"Wait…" Chris stated suddenly, watching the guys turning around to face him. "Since this is a big ass building, we should stay together. Whenever someone needs to go somewhere, we always take someone else with us. Let's start in pairs for now since we'll be covering a lot of ground." He explained slowly, receiving nods from his friends.

"Okay so in order to take a piss, I need to have one of you standing over me, making sure no ghosts come to take me away?" Shawn asked with a frown as Mark, Jeff and Matt smiled.

Brian rolled his eyes while Chris stared at him for a long moment in silence. Apparently he found this extremely amusing…and that was about to change.

"Shawn…we will be in pairs because if you so happen to fall through the floor and smack your moronic head against the cement below, there will be someone to hear you scream. I don't know about you but I want to try to reduce the number of deaths in this building, even if that means you need a baby sitter to take a piss."

Everyone remained silent, including Shawn who didn't exactly know how to react to Shawn's words. He knew Chris was just trying to keep the band safe but ever since they arrived, he had been acting strangely snappy at everyone.

"Finished?" He demanded.

Shawn nodded slowly and swallowed hard, trying not to blow up at him for being such a negative bastard.

"Good…Shawn you will be with Mark, Matt you are with Brad and I'll be with Brian-."

" –Wait, why are you with Brian _again_?" Mark demanded with an arched brow of confusion.

Brian and Chris glanced at each other for a moment and frowned, slowly looking back at Mark.

"Is there a problem?" Brian asked with a small chuckle.

"No…but it seems that every time we split up, its always Brian and Chris. You guys ever think of varying your choices of friends to pair up with?" Mark asked in response.

Chris frowned a little at the absurdity and total randomness of his comment and crossed his arms.

"Um…well we ARE best friends and all. Besides, Chris is just more comfortable being with his pal, Brizzy Bri!" he smiled, patting Chris on the back.

Chris stared at him silently and rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Brian the only reason why I'm going with you is because your sense of direction is shit and I have better eyesight." He mumbled, hearing the laughter of the other guys echoing throughout the kitchen.

Brian lowered his eyes and stared at them with a light blush, then growled under his breath.

"Thanks Chris…humiliate me in front of everyone…" He muttered quietly.

"Don't worry, you're still my pal. Right... Err, _Brizzy Bri_?" he asked with a smile.

Brian stared at him and remained silent as each of the guys left the kitchen in their appropriate pairing (still laughing) and disappeared into different wings of the building.

"Jericho, I'm going to kick your ass." He muttered with a frown, following Chris through the massive metal doors of the kitchen into a long corridor.

"Brian, don't take it personally. I was just joking around." Chris explained quietly, watching the clouds darken through the wide barred windows which spilled dim rays of light into the dust.

"So…why are you paired with me?" Brian asked with an arched brow, waving the dangling cobwebs out of his face as they continued to creep down the hall. The Canadian shrugged and glanced at him briefly before turning his attention back down the darkening hall.

"You're more fun to tease." He chuckled, receiving a painful punch to his arm. "Ow…" he coughed, holding back his laughter and rubbed the new bruise.

"I can just as easily pair up with someone else you know. I don't need this abuse." Brian explained quietly with a lowered frown. Chris shook his head and grinned, watching Brian's eyes scanning him intently.

"Yeah you're right…I'm sorry. Besides, I'm just messing with ya. Come on, let's head down that hall…maybe we can find something interesting to show the guys." Chris stated cheerfully, pulling Brian sharply into the left hall. Brian kept a keen eye on Chris…watching his every movement.

When they had first arrived, he had been slow and cautious with his steps and now he was practically bounding off the walls with excitement. His miserable mood had suddenly faded and now he seemed to have been looking forward to this investigation of the building.

One thing was for sure…something was up with Chris.

* * *

Shawn and Mark were now padding through mucky floors, flooded with water. Mark grimaced at the moulding smell of stagnant water and followed Shawn past a few rooms, which looked to have housed the patients while they were sleeping…or perhaps they were some sort of isolation chambers.

He shivered at the thought of a patient being locked up in a dark room, comforted by only his heavy breathing. The terror of loneliness must have been evident, for there were deep dents against the metal doors. Apparently a few had tried to bang their way out of isolation. As they continued down the corridor, they slowly came to a wide opening, obviously a meeting spot for doctors and nurses. In the middle of the dark open space rested a single vacated wheelchair, illuminated by one ray of light from the small window across from it.

Mark and Shawn approached it cautiously; staring down at the leather straps attached to the arms rests. The skinny wheels were faded and worn down because obviously this wheelchair had been used on a daily basis. Shawn raised a brow of interest and glanced at the foam padding escaping the chair in certain spots. It was clear that this wheelchair was old and was probably used in the early 70's and into the late 80's.

"This is kind of spooky…" Shawn whispered, looking back at Mark who held the same nervous expression.

"Yeah well I wouldn't want to roll around in that…it looks like it could collapse any minute." He replied quietly, kicking at the front left wheel, making it squeak and dangle.

Shawn swallowed hard and paced himself around the circular space, eyeing the water damaged walls and trying to suppress the stench of some sort of metallic scent. The smell was not poignant but rotten enough for him to tell that it had been exposed to moisture for far too long.

"You smell that?" he whispered, hearing his voice echoing off the empty walls. Mark looked around and stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking towards Shawn slowly while avoiding deep puddles.

"Yeah…smells kind of like sewage…and copper…" he replied, coughing through the dust.

"What do you think it is?" Shawn asked, eyeing the floor with dark eyes.

"Beats me. How about you follow the smell and let me know what it is so we can get the hell out of here." Mark stated with a furrowed brow. Shawn gave him a dirty look, feeling rather insulted about being the smell identifier and stuck his tongue in his cheek.

"Well if you want to get out of here so fucking bad then why don't you stick out your honker and help out." He snapped back.

Mark made an annoyed face and sighed heavily, glancing around the room for the smell.

"Fine, I'll help. But if I get sick from this smell, I'm throwing up on you." Shawn rolled his eyes and continued his search for the unidentified metallic/sewage smell.

Mark frowned in thought and lowered his head, glancing into the corner of the room. He sniffed lightly and coughed, almost throwing up right there.

"Jesus…" he muttered in disgust.

"You find something?" Shawn asked from the other side of the room. Mark kicked around a few leaves and swallowed hard, shielding his nose from the thick scent.

"Uh…well it's pretty raunchy over here. Come here." He replied, hearing Shawn's footsteps nearing. They both stared down at the floor while Mark continued to kick the leaves away from the smell. Suddenly, he stopped and stared down silently; his eyes widening. Joe squinted down and furrowed his brow, trying to make out what he was seeing.

In the corner of the room, was a large stain about the side of one of the wheelchair wheels. It was dark brown and the edges were smooth, as if it had oozed from somewhere.

"Um…please tell me that isn't what I think it is…" Shawn whispered with warning.

"That depends on what you think it is." Mark replied quietly, feeling his blood running cold.

"Well, it looks like caked on dirt…" Shawn stated.

"Uh…looks more like caked on dried blood-."

"–Okay, I'm out of here!" Shawn shouted and stumbled backwards, suddenly tripping over a raised piece of tile.

He fell hard onto the gritty floor and coughed out most of his air. Mark walked over to him and shook his head with a heavy sigh, watching him coughing slightly.

"Ow…" Shawn mumbled and pressed his hand onto a pile of leaves, attempting to lift himself back up.

"You alright man?" Mark asked with a small laugh.

"Yeah I think s-." Shawn suddenly stopped and frowned, feeling something cold and gooey beneath his hand.

"What?" Mark asked with confusion, seeing his friend's face paling rapidly. Shawn looked down slowly and lifted his hand cautiously. His heart nearly leapt out of his chest as he stared down at the snow white limb, covered in dried blood which was also crusted beneath the nail. Shawn jumped onto his feet and gasped with disgust and sudden fear, shaking terribly. When he had fallen, he had placed his hand on top of a severed finger.

"What the hell is that!" Mark shouted with wide eyes, looking away.

"It's a finger Mark!" Shawn shouted back, almost as loudly.

"I know it's a fucking finger! Where the hell is the rest of him!" He nearly screamed at his friend, covering his eyes. Shawn stared down at his own palm and gasped out, feeling quite ill. He stared at the rotting flesh, melded against his tanned skin.

"Fucking hell, I just touched a fucking decomposing finger!"

"Well wipe it off!" Mark yelled back, stumbling away from the pile of leaves where the finger rested. Shawn ran over to the corner of the wall and began scraping the sticky goo off of his palm all the while holding back his vomit. Mark paced around the room with trembling legs and swallowed hard. That must have been the stench they smelt. No one should ever have to smell rotting blood and a decomposing limb.

"You done yet?" he muttered shakily, while Shawn shook out his hand violently.

"Yeah…but now I think I'm gonna pass out…" he replied with a weak voice, coughing at the smell now stuck to his palm.

"Let's head back to the kitchen and wait for the rest of the guys to come back. I'm done investigating for today." Mark stated quickly and pulled Shawn with him down the hall towards the kitchen.

The walk back was silent…and slightly disturbing. They just couldn't get over the fact that they had seen a severed finger…and the most disturbing part about that was there was no body to match it.

The questions of 'where is the body and what was done to it' soon began filling their thoughts. They had a feeling that the lifeless finger wasn't the only horrifying and disgusting surprise they were going to find in this building.

They could only imagine what the others were discovering.

* * *

**Chapters 5&6 might be up a little later**

.


	5. Screaming Water

****

Disclaimer: Everything that you read within this story is fiction. The WWE wrestlers own themselves. Any original characters belong to me as does the name of the mental asylum. No WWE superstars were harmed during the making of this story.

**Chapter 5  
**_**Screaming Water**_

Jeff and Matt carefully made their way up the creaking winding staircase which led to the upper part of the building. So far they had seen nothing very extraordinary about the main level and decided to venture further. When they had reached the top of the stairs, the first thing they noticed was a very large window, showing the massive view of outside.

Matt stepped towards the window and glanced out into the black skies, watching the rain beginning to pour and the trees leaning in the wind. There was no doubt in his mind that this storm was going to become terrible soon. Jeff stared down at the shaded lawn, covered in massive oak trees which were now swaying dangerously through the coming storm.

It was as if the storm was attempting to destroy the beautiful trees that surrounded the building. The one thing that stood out though, was the small stone like structures imbedded inside the grass in rows. The more Jeff squinted, the more detail he could make out on each stone. It looked as if each one was engraved with a small cross, followed by numbers.

"Um…Matt, what does that look like?" he asked quietly with a frown of intrigue. The younger man leaned forward a little more and eyed the stones with a dark gaze.

"Looks like a graveyard…"

"A graveyard for whom?" Jeff asked, turning his head towards his friend slowly. Matt gave him a grave look and lowered his eyes, glancing around briefly before responding.

"Maybe…the patients and doctors that were killed."

Jeff shivered and shook his head, leaning away from the window.

"I hate this place." He muttered and proceeded down the small corridor. Matt stared at him as he walked and slowly decided to catch up with him. He wanted to learn more about the graveyard and who was buried there but figured that it probably wasn't a very good idea. Besides, they were dead and poking around a closed off graveyard would certainly get him arrested.

Quickly, he caught up to Jeff and stopped beside him, watching his brother's gaze burning into a plaque on a large white door. They both eyed the black lettering and swallowed hard, wondering what this room was used for.

"Hydro-therapy…" Jeff stated quietly with confusion, crossing his arms. Matt raised a brow and shrugged, glancing at Jeff.

"You think this is worth investigating?"

"You first…" he replied with uncertainty. Matt then reached out for the doorknob and turned it sharply, cracking the door open. Jeff took a deep breath and stepped into the large room, hearing the floor creaking beneath his weight. As they both gazed around, they saw what looked like six deep slabs, connected to the wall. Each metal slab was filled with still water, rippling slightly from the vibrations of their feet against the floor.

Matt furrowed his brow and stared down into the first slab, seeing the mucky water coating the sides with white foam and staining them a faded grey.

"Hey Jeff, what do you think they do to patients in here?" he asked, feeling a shiver tickling the back of his neck. Jeff's eyes scanned each slab as he walked past them, staring into the murky waters below. There was an eerie feeling pumping through his heart, making his hands shake. Somehow the sight of water filled slabs and patients coming here for treatment were not something he wanted to think about.

"Maybe they placed them in water to…I don't know, calm them down…" he explained with confusion, not even certain that his own words spoke truth. Who knows what really happened in this room. For all they knew, the patients were dunked in face down and forced to drown themselves.

"Is it just me or is this place creepier than we thought it was?" Matt asked quietly, walking towards the last slab connected to the wall. Jeff followed him towards the end of the room and grimaced at the strange smell emanating from the last slab.

"I think the word you are looking for is disturbing and what the HELL is that smell?" the younger brother demanded, looking around with a cough. Matt cocked his head to the side and sniffed a little, making a disgusted face.

"I think its coming from this water." He replied with a hoarse voice.

"What did they do, dump toilet water in here? Jesus Christ it smells like someone shit in here." Jeff explained, nearly gagging from the poignant smell. Matt swallowed the awful scent and watched the water shimmering from the dim light of the window.

The more he gazed into the water, the lumpier it looked. For some reason, it looked like someone had dumped oatmeal and pieces of corn into the water. But, as the rippling of the water ceased, his eyes widened at what he saw. Through the murky green goo, two eyes stared up at him lifelessly with terror, sucked into a massively bloated face.

"Oh my God…" he breathed out, taking a few shaky steps back. Jeff frowned and looked into the water, wondering what Matt was so freaked out about and nearly leaped out of the window in fright. The bloated body was stuck to the bottom of the slab and the water was ripping the fatty skin from its limbs. The colour of what once used to be skin was now green and orange, covered with lumps of rotting fat. They couldn't even tell if it was male or female for it was far too deformed for that sort of identification.

Jeff swallowed his vomit and stood back beside Matt whose face was now sporting a pale shade of green. Both of them were trembling violently and were unable to move due to shock.

"W-what…what the hell is that?" Jeff coughed, trying not to throw up all over the room.

"I believe the question you want to ask is what the hell WAS that?" Matt replied distantly, still trying to cope with what he had just seen.

"That's so gross. He's still…" Jeff trailed off as Matt nodded.

"Juicy…"

They both continued to stare at the slab silently while moving backwards. Jeff stopped suddenly as his hand hit another slab behind him and he instantly felt something soft beneath his fingers. He turned around sharply to investigate what was touching him and let out a small shout in panic as the full head of hair began floating to the top of the water.

Matt's eyes widened at the sound of Jeff's panicked voice and his heart began thumping furiously against his chest. This room looked like some sort of decapitation site because they now began to notice all the heads beneath the stagnantly green water.

"Fucking hell, what is this place?" Matt demanded, feeling his eyes drooping with sickness. Jeff grabbed his brother's arm and began pulling him out of the room as each head stared at them with wide open eyes of horror. They slammed the door shut and raced down the stairs onto the main level; their hearts pounding like mad. Pretty soon they had run right into the kitchen where Shawn and Mark were sitting on top of the counters, eyeing them with curiosity. Jeff slipped a little and grabbed onto the counter, stopping himself as Matt grabbed his chest and panted terribly.

They both looked like they had witnessed a murder.

"Guys, you okay?" Mark asked with a growing frown of concern.

Matt looked up at them and shook his head, still catching his breath while Jeff covered his mouth with disgust.

"Oh Jesus, I hate this place…" he breathed with a small groan.

"What, what happened?" Shawn demanded quickly, wanting to know every detail as quickly as possible so he could tell them their story of the finger. Jeff took a deep breath and looked around, wondering if he had the stomach to tell them about their gruelling discovery.

"Just…don't go upstairs into the Hydro-therapy room." He warned quietly while Matt leaned against the counter shakily.

"Hydro what now?" Mark asked with a furrowed brow, listening to Matt's trembling breathing.

"Big room, lots of water…lots of dead decapitated heads…" Jeff explained rapidly, trying not to throw up.

"Decapitated heads?" Shawn demanded, jumping off the counter in disbelief. Mark's eyes widened at the news and hopped off the counter as well.

"Oh my God, are you serious?"

"No, I just thought I'd make up something interesting to tell you." Jeff replied with a glare, still shivering from the sight of those wide open eyes.

"Were any of them missing a finger?" Shawn asked nervously while crossing his arms. All three men stared at him silently and blinked, not believing how incredibly retarded he was.

"What?" he demanded, raising a brow.

"Shawn, they were decapitated. They didn't have fingers." Matt explained slowly with a low tone.

Shawn stared at Matt for a long moment with lowered eyes, before holding up his hand for all the world to see.

"I fell down and touched a severed finger!" he shouted. Mark frowned in thought and brought a finger to his chin, wondering where the body that belonged to that finger was.

"So let me get this straight. We found a finger and you guys found a bunch of heads inside water-."

"–Bloated heads." Jeff corrected.

"Okay…bloated heads." Mark sneered at the interruption and continued.

"Anyway, why are we only finding body parts and not entire bodies? Where the hell are the rest of these people?" he asked while glancing at a very frantic looking Shawn who was obviously still shaken up about touching a severed finger. No one else had to actually touch one of those gooey things. Matt lowered his eyes gravely and swallowed hard, not wanting an answer to that question. The same look adorned each of the other men and they all felt a cold shiver run up their spine.

"Maybe there are no bodies…maybe there are only body parts…" The young man explained. Shawn scratched his head in thought and leaned back against the counters, feeling the coldness of the stainless steel against his back.

"So if this place is covered in body parts…then who did it?"

All four of them stared at each other for a long moment, not wanting to answer that question either.

"No idea…but maybe…" Jeff replied, trailing off in thought. Shawn raised his eyes and rolled his wrists impatiently.

"Maybe what dammit?"

"Maybe that homicidal patient did it. Maybe he killed them a while ago and ripped off their limbs, throwing them all over the asylum." Jeff explained while glaring at Shawn for being so pushy.

"Can't agree more. This patient sounds like a lunatic." Shawn muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Once again, all of them stared at him silently for his dumbass remark.

"Shawn…he WAS a lunatic. Why do you think he was put here?" Matt asked.

"Okay fine, I'm being retarded today so sue me! I just touched a fucking decomposing finger!" He shouted back; the stress cracking his smooth voice.

"Yes Shawn, you are being retarded. It's a good thing you're in the right place." Jeff replied with a sideways smile.

"Okay, everyone stop picking on Shawn. He's had a hard day too. Let's just wait for Chris and Brian to get back." Matt stated, stopping everyone from banging on about Shawn's retardedness.

They all remained silent once again and stared at each other, wondering what Chris and Brian were doing and where they were. Were they discovering something gruesome as well? Slowly, they began thinking about the night here and what it would be like to sleep in a building with so many dead body parts.

"Guys?" Shawn asked quietly, waking them from their thoughts.

"What now?" Jeff asked with annoyance.

Shawn swallowed hard and lowered his eyes, feeling ashamed of what he was thinking because he knew that the concept was unlikely. Still, he had to say something.

"What if that patient didn't die. What if he's still here?" They all glanced at each other uneasily with frowns covering their brows. Mark shook his head and shivered, feeling his legs becoming weak with fright.

"Shut up Shawn…"

Again, silence filled the kitchen…that was until a sudden scream of terror echoed throughout the halls. They all looked towards the door where the scream was coming from and widened their eyes with horror.

The scream was familiar…and it was coming from Brian.

* * *

Thanks to my reviewers: Dark Kaneanite, Animal Luvr 4 Life, CMPunksxXxGirl, wrestlefan4, Edward's Josie Black and Tina.

Loves ya!

Angel  
xxx


	6. Veiled Darkness

**Disclaimer: Everything that you read within this story is fiction. The WWE wrestlers own themselves. Any original characters belong to me as does the name of the mental asylum. No WWE superstars were harmed during the making of this story.**

**Chapter 6  
**_**Veiled Darkness**_

Jeff, Shawn, Matt and Mark stared at the metal kitchen doors as they flung open, sending Brian stumbling into the room with one hand covering his face and the other rubbing frantically at his hair. He gave short shrieks with each stumble and everyone rushed over to see if he was alright. Chris walked slowly into the kitchen while rolling his eyes and gave a heavy sigh, shaking his head.

"GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT!" Brian screamed desperately while running around the room.

"Brian man, calm down! What's wrong?" Jeff shouted, trying to get him to stop panicking.

"THEY'RE IN MY HAIR AND DOWN MY SHIRT AND…EW!"

"Brian, I can barely hear you…stop running around!" Mark yelled, trying to grab for him but failed when Brian tripped over a wooden table and fell to the floor. He continued to roll around on the floor until Chris pressed his foot down against his chest, holding him steady.

"Chris, get off!" he yelled.

"Brian stop struggling." He muttered casually.

"I'll be eaten alive!"

"No you won't, calm down." He replied soothingly and bent down.

"Guys, what the hell just happened?" Matt demanded with a glare of confusion and interest.

Chris looked up briefly and then turned his attention back towards Brian who wouldn't stop twitching.

"Brian got caught inside a giant cobweb and now he thinks there are spiders all over him." The Canadian explained calmly, tugging Brian up to a sitting position.

"There ARE spiders all over me! I can feel them biting-ow!" he shrieked, closing his eyes with pain. Chris rolled his eyes once again and lifted his shirt to observe his back. And sure enough as his blue eyes grazed his skin, he could see tiny little purple and red blotches all over his tanned back. He raised a brow and looked into his best friend's watering eyes while he hissed with each sting.

"Oh…oops…" he mumbled inwardly, receiving an angry look from his friend.

"Dammit Chris, you fucking pushed me into the fucking spider web!"

"What? No I didn't…you fell!" Chris yelled back in disbelief.

"Fuck you Jericho! You pushed me!"

"The floor boards were cracking near the wall! I had to get out of the way so I didn't fall through the hole!"

"Yeah and in doing that, you just poisoned me with spider venom!" Brian screamed angrily; his face growing red as the vein in his neck began throbbing. Chris snorted and shook his head with lowered eyes.

"Oh give me a break; you're going to be fine. Besides I'm pretty sure you just scared away all the spiders with your screaming." He explained.

Brian stared down at the floor and continued to breathe heavily with fury. Chris had pushed him, he knew it! He could deny it all he wanted but it didn't change the fact that he had pressed his body against his best friend and pushed him into a cobweb.

"Are you two ladies finished fighting? We have to think about where we're going to sleep tonight and I'm pretty sure it's going to get fucking cold so it had better be a warm place." Mark explained quickly with a frown.

Chris growled under his breath and moved away from Brian, standing up beside his other friends.

"Well didn't you guys find a place when you went to look around?" he asked, quickly forgetting about a very pissed looking Brian on the floor. Matt laughed out breathily and shook his head.

"Uh…yeah we found a good place. The thing is we can't sleep there on account of all the dead bodies taking up residence there."

Chris's eyes widened slowly at the sound of his voice and he swallowed hard, feeling pale. "D-dead bodies?"

"Yeah and I touched a severed finger! See, look! I still have the goo on my hands!' Shawn shouted, holding up his hand for Chris to see.

"Are you kidding me?" Chris asked quietly as Brian stood up with interest.

"Would everyone please stop asking that?" Mark growled with irritation.

"You guys found dead bodies?" Brian demanded with a low tone, just trying to make sure he was hearing them correctly.

"And please stop repeating everything…" Mark muttered as Matt nodded.

"Yeah we think that patient killed them. Shawn here thinks the patient is still roaming the hall looking for victims but I'm pretty sure we're alone here." He explained, finding it quite unlikely that some patient from 1986 would be stalking a kitchen full of morons. Besides, they weren't even worthy enough to be stalked by a homicidal creep.

"And you guys didn't find anything?" Jeff asked, staring at Chris and Brian.

"Other than a lot of dusty offices and patient rooms…nothing." Brian replied, shooting a dirty glance towards his 'best friend'. Suddenly, as if warning them…a loud crack of thunder rumbled the walls and shook the floor. All of them looked up, hoping the ceiling wouldn't come crumbling down due to the thundering vibrations.

The thunder soon faded with a few more echoing cracks and was replaced with the sound of heavy rain pelting the top of the roof.

"So…we staying here then?" Shawn asked cautiously, eyeing the vaulted ceiling nervously.

"Well I ain't going outside to grab blankets from the van so we're all going to have to snuggle up with each other." Jeff stated, planting himself down on the floor against the wall. Matt sat down beside him and gave a heavy sigh, bringing his knees up to his chest, soon followed by Shawn who lay down on his back beside Mark.

Chris and Brian stared at each other angrily for what seemed like an eternity before finally they slumped down on the floor together…well at a comfortable distance at least. Brian stared at Chris's unemotional features and began to wonder how his friend could just push him into a cobweb. He knew he hated spiders yet he did it anyway.

The other thing that struck him as odd was _how_ he had pushed him in. He had wrapped his arms around him and practically shoved him up against the wall like some animal on crack. Since when did he hate him so much that he had to bash him into a wall? Chris could be such a prick sometimes, he thought as he leaned back against the bottom of the counters. Chris watched him closely through his peripheral vision and blinked slowly.

He must have turned his head a little and began staring at him for a long time that way because suddenly Brian was giving him the dirtiest look he had ever seen. Silently, Chris turned his head away from him and stared down at the crusty old tile flooring, wondering how much dirt he now had on his ass. And they were new jeans too! With a small grumble of discomfort, he leaned back against the counters and leaned his head on his knees, feeling Brian sliding down onto the floor beside him.

* * *

For hours, they all lay there silently trying not to think about the dead bodies all of the building. And the moment they all feared had soon arrived, causing the anxiety level to rise throughout the room. The sun was setting, creating dark murky shadows all over the kitchen. Now they were sleeping in a DARK building with dead bodies.

What a wonderful sleep they were all going to have.

As Chris slid down to the cold floor, he couldn't help but notice that he was the only one left awake. Matt and Jeff were both snoring loudly against the wall and Mark and Shawn were muttering things in their sleep, well mainly Shawn. He turned his head and watched Brian's darkened visage to the best of his ability. He was breathing softly, creating warm breaths of air against Chris's tanned arm.

His eyes were moving rapidly beneath the lid, signalling that he was now in a deep dreaming state. Chris wondered how he could even fall asleep in this building. The walls cracked loudly with the wind and rain and the ceiling was moaning terribly beneath the moisture. Not only that, a loud drip began pounding through the Canadian's head as the rain leaked into the room. Just as the paranoia of this building trying to drive him insane began, a frigid draft began running up and down his usually warm back.

Chris slid towards Brian a little more and eyed him, making sure he wasn't waking up. When he was sure that his friend was still fast asleep, he leaned his head against his warm shoulder and closed his eyes. The comfort of his steady breaths soon calmed him and he was slowly drifting into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Pain…intense pain.

Shawn frowned deeply in his slumber and whimpered slightly as something sharp began stabbing at his insides. Unconsciously, he moved his hand towards his belly and clutched it tightly, feeling the strain of his twitching arm. The stabbing pain became so intense that suddenly his eyes opened wide, causing his pupils to contract to tiny pin points. He groaned and bit his bottom lip, staring around the pitch black room.

_Gotta piss, gotta piss, gotta piss, gotta piss, gotta piss, gotta piss, gotta piss, gotta piss!_

He could feel his bladder bubbling and aching as he moved around trying to get comfortable. He just did not want to get up and the darkened cold around him was not very inviting. He wished he was in a nice warm hotel room where he only had to walk across some cushy carpet and the bathroom was right there. But no, they had to stay in this massive crap shack. Feeling like he was about to burst, he sat up and swallowed hard.

Looking around the dark kitchen, he suddenly spotted the flashlights sitting on the table beside the coolers. Shawn stood up and grabbed one, flicking it on. Instantly the wall in front of him lit up as he pointed the flashlight there, looking down at his sleeping friends.

His attention was pulled down to Chris and Brian who were sleeping comfortably with their heads on each other's shoulder. It was a cute sight but probably not for the best since they had been fighting lately. Tomorrow they would definitely want to kill each other for this. Shawn smirked at the thought of them having a huge cat fight and flashed his light down onto Mark who frowned in his sleep.

"'Taker man, wake up." He whispered, trying not to wake the others.

Mark covered his face with his arm and groaned quietly into the floor.

"Mark, I gotta pee!" he whispered sharply, remembering the rule of always having someone with you. He certainly didn't want to get yelled at by Chris again, although he was sure Brian would defend him.

"Mark, get up! Come on man, I don't want to go out there alone." He whined quietly, kicking his friend gently in the stomach. Mark waved his hand out and growled, trying to get the annoying Texan away from him. Shawn stared down at him helplessly and watched as he slowly fell back asleep. Thinking he wasn't going to be able to keep his bladder together for long, he shook his head and quickly raced out of the room to find the nearest bathroom.

After racing around a few hallways for a while, he finally found an arrow with the word TOILETS painted on and followed it towards the small room. Shawn shivered slightly at the smell of old urine and flashed his light down into one of the stalls.

He could see brown stains on the floor from where the toilet had cracked and leaked and wasn't so keen on pissing in that exact one. Swallowing hard, he looked around towards the second stall and opened the green door, hearing it whine loudly and bang against the wall. He silently cursed himself for being so loud and walked into the stall, staring down at the toilet.

It looked fairly all together and the grey water gleamed brightly from the flashlight's shining bulb. Shawn stuffed the end of the flashlight into his mouth and held it tightly with his teeth while he unbuckled his belt. With a heavy sigh of relief, he began emptying his bladder into the pot and nodded with accomplishment.

_Ha, the ghosts haven't gotten me yet._

With a tiny smirk, he stared at the wall in front of him while his bladder was still emptying itself. He watched the light from the flashlight reflecting the shimmering toilet water onto the tile wall. As he blinked, he felt his heart drop as the shimmering light was blocked by a dark shadow. Quickly, he turned his head past his shoulder and flashed the light onto the wall behind him. There was nothing there but an eerie silence and a gleaming wall.

Frowning, he turned back to what he was doing and zipped up his pants then grabbed the flashlight from his mouth. He closed his eyes and sighed shakily, silently hoping there was nothing behind him, reading to grab him. He then opened his eyes and rolled them at the absurdity of the thought. Everyone was sleeping and they were alone here.

Perhaps the thoughts of that patient running around was starting to get to him. Slowly, he turned around and flashed the light up in front of him, sighing with relief as the room remained empty. He shakily walked out of the stall and stepped towards the sink and placed the flashlight beside him onto the counter. He then dunked his hands into the cold mucky water of the sink and rolled them around, getting the smell of urine off of his hands. It wasn't the best kind of water to do this but he'd rather smell like damp leaves than toilet water.

Suddenly, a creak echoed throughout the bathroom and he turned his head sharply to see what had made the disturbance. He squinted through the dark and watched as the door to the stall he was just in moaned. He waited in silence to make sure his mind was just playing tricks on him while the water from the toilet dripped and rippled from the cold draft now whispering throughout the room.

Becoming quite paranoid, he frowned and looked around the room desperately searching for what had made the door move. Shivering terribly, he decided to forget what had happened and returned to scratching his hands clean beneath the rippling water. Silence flooded his ears as he swallowed the growing lump of nerves in his throat and shook his hands from the water, drying them as best he could. He had imagined it…it was this damn building and the rain outside, playing tricks on him. Shawn reached for the flashlight and raised it to the mirror to observe his weary face.

Suddenly, his blood ran cold and his heart stopped.

Staring at him through the shadows…were two very black eyes, conforming to a deep inhuman glare.

Shawn couldn't move and couldn't speak, so basically alerting his friends was beyond his control. Fear rushed across his skin, creating a painful cold which froze him to the spot. Just as he thought things couldn't get any worse, the eyes approached him slowly like coming death. Just as Shawn was about to pass out from fear, he felt the form's hot breath against his right ear…confirming that this was not part of his imagination. This thing was real…and was now whispering words from its hoarsely deep voice.

"Do you like the dark?"

Shawn's eyes widened to their full extent and his pupils contracted until all that was left was the deep brown colour within the white. The shaking flashlight within his hand flickered and buzzed, then suddenly faded away from the tiny light bulb inside like a dying fire.

Darkness veiled the room until all that was seen were the whites of Shawn's eyes, burning with painful terror.


	7. Wheeling Madness

**Chapter 7  
**_**Wheeling Madness**_

The young man rolled over and sighed heavily through his comforting slumber. He still felt the rising and falling of the chest beneath his cheek and revelled in the warmth of his friend. To his amazement, he had had quite the peaceful sleep despite the conditions he and his friends were forced to cope with. Thankfully, the dripping from the ceiling had stopped and the storm was reduced to cloudy skies and a frigid breeze.

Suddenly, his slumber was interrupted as the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly echoed through his brain. Chris's weary eyes fluttered open and he looked up to see Matt, Mark and Jeff staring down at him with crossed arms. He then looked up slightly to see Brian glaring at him; his chest rising and falling rapidly with each passing second. Chris suddenly realized the position he was in and pulled himself off of Brian's chest, then rubbed his head with fatigue.

" Comfortable?" Brian demanded with a slightly annoyed tone, sitting up. Chris frowned and looked at his friends with sheepish looking eyes.

" Uh…"

" Uh what?" Brian asked, staring into his eyes as if he were holding a flame up to paper.

" I fell asleep-."

" –You fell asleep on my chest Chris. I mean, we're close…but I didn't think we were _that_ close." The younger man explained, watching Chris's cheeks redden with embarrassment.

" Jeeze Chris, you should have told us you were gay." Jeff stated with a small smile twitching against his lips. Chris stared up at him with a dark look and growled under his breath.

" Shut up, I'm not gay. He was warm and I was cold…end of story."

" Aw, next time we should all just cuddle around Cwissy to make sure he's all nice and warm." Mark laughed, bringing his arms around his body mockingly. Chris lowered his eyes as Brian wrapped his arms around him tightly while everyone started laughing.

" Get off!" Chris yelled and pushed his friend away, standing up. Brian stood up after him and brushed the dirt off of his pants while Matt frowned, staring around the room frantically.

" What's up Matt? You look distraught." Jeff muttered, opening one of the coolers.

" There are only five of us." He replied quietly with a tone of warning. Jeff stopped scrounging for food and the rest eyed each other with frowns of confusion and worry. Brian raised his finger and began counting heads as the rest just stared at him blankly.

" Yep, you're right…five." He sighed.

They continued to stare at him until Chris finally shook his head.

" No shit Sherlock. Did any of you see Shawn this morning?" he asked, ignoring his friend's stupidity.

" Uh…no. But he did kick me in the stomach late last night." Mark explained casually.

" Did he say anything?" Matt asked with growing worry.

" Just that he had to take a p-." Mark stopped suddenly, realizing that Shawn had gone out around the asylum by himself.

" Oh shit."

" Oh shit is right! You just let him walk off without going with him?" Chris demanded angrily, advancing towards Mark.

" Well Chris it's not like he's five years old. He can go and piss by himself." He replied with a glare.

" It doesn't matter how old he is you asshole. What if something bad happened to him? What if he's injured or worse?"

Mark felt himself hit the wall behind him as Chris advanced even faster.

" Chris, would you just back off? Shawn can take care of himself!" He shouted back as the rest of the guys remained silent during their argument.

" That's not the point! You were supposed to go with him!"

" What, because you 'assigned' him to me? Jesus Christ Chris, anyone could have gone with him. Why the hell did it have to be me?"

" You were the closest one to him! It was your responsibility-."

" –Fuck you Chris! This is not my fucking fault. Besides, he's probably just lost or something." Mark interrupted with burning impatience.

" All the more reason for you to take the blame for this." Chris hissed, feeling the vein throbbing in his neck.

" The blame? Are you fucking kidding me? I didn't do anything wrong!"

" He could be dead!" Chris yelled, but stopped suddenly as Matt came between them, putting his hand against Chris's chest to push him away from Mark.

" Alright, that's enough…both of you!"

The two men stared at each other with gazes burning into each other like bloody daggers, in silence.

" Shawn could be lost or injured right now and you are not helping the situation. What we need to do right now is stop fighting and find him before something terrible happens. This was no one's fault and Chris you need to seriously chill out. Now grow up!" Matt yelled with a deep glare, eyeing them both with disappointment.

Brian stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced at Chris with the same disappointed look that Matt was still sporting yet his was softer with more understanding. Chris was just trying to protect them…but like always, he was blowing things out of proportion. For all they knew, Shawn could have been fine.

" Come on guys, let's find Shawn." Jeff muttered quietly and followed Brian out the door. Matt shook his head at his friend's behaviour one more time before he finally left the room to follow his other two friends. Mark and Chris shot each other apologetic frowns and quickly left the kitchen as well to catch up with the others.

They had all agreed not to split up again unless it was absolutely necessary, so they began searching the entire main level together looking for every bathroom this place had. For countless minutes they ran around, up and down stairs and through almost every bathroom they could find. Unfortunately Shawn was nowhere to be found…that was until they discovered the bathroom at the end of the hall on the main level that they had missed.

This bathroom was sort of secluded and out of the way from the rest of the level so it was only logical they had missed it. At first they had all rushed towards it, but suddenly realized that they had no idea what they might find so naturally they paced themselves slowly towards the door. Brian gripped the cold metal doorknob shakily as the rest of them stood behind him in silent agony. With a small creak, he pressed the door open with care and stepped forward a little.

Brian swallowed hard and braced himself for what he was going to see, hearing each of the trembling breaths behind him from the other four guys. They all pushed themselves into the dimly lit bathroom…the empty dimly lit bathroom and sighed with relief, knowing that Shawn hadn't been killed. Well…not here at least. Chris swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and glanced around the room, staring at the cracked mirror and dented stall doors.

It was clear that there had been a disturbance…perhaps a violent disturbance in here but none of them could tell if it was from last night or from twenty-two years ago. Jeff took a deep breath and stared at his friend's with anxiety filling his eyes.

" So…if Shawn isn't in the bathroom then where the hell is he?"

" Maybe he took the van back to the gas station to get some snacks." Mark prayed, closing his eyes tightly and bringing his hands together in hope.

" 'Taker man, that's a six hour drive." Matt explained quietly, watching Brian walking towards one of the stalls.

" So, maybe he was desperate." Mark replied but was quickly silenced by Brian who looked around the bathroom in thought.

" What?" Chris whispered, wondering why Brian had shut everyone up.

" You hear that?" he whispered back, staring into Chris's blue orbs. They all remained silent and strained to hear what Brian was supposedly hearing. And sure enough through the silence, they all heard a loud thick dripping sound coming from the bathroom.

They all hoped that maybe the toilet was leaking but water was not that thick. And what is thicker than water my friends? Brian bit his bottom lip nervously with a sickening heart and opened the stall door slowly with a shaking hand. He looked down gravely and watched as red blotches splattered against the mucky tile floor, mixing with the mud and leaves.

" Oh Jesus…" he whispered lowly as each of them watched him in terror. Brian stepped into the stall and moved the door, watching the pool of blood forming…beneath the leaking arm which was clinging to the inside doorknob.

" Fuck…" Brian breathed, putting his hand to his mouth to contain a cry of disgust and fear. Shawn's arm dangled stiffly from the knob, spilling deep crimson liquid all over the stall door. The paling green hand looked waxy and unreal, much like that of a doll's. The only problem with that image was that dolls don't bleed, which confirmed the human aspect of what had happened.

" P-please tell me that isn't Shawn's arm." Mark stuttered, glancing into the stall.

Brian walked out of the stall and ran a hand through his thin hair, wiping the sweat of anxiety from his cheeks and mouth.

" Jesus Christ…"

" Oh my God…what the hell happened?" Matt demanded shakily, feeling the blood draining from his cheeks.

" Someone…or something ripped off Shawn's arm." Brian stated bluntly, reserving nothing from his friends.

" R-ripped off?" Chris asked with a lowered brow as Jeff remained silent in shock.

" That's what I said." Brian replied quietly and walked out of the bathroom.

" W-wait…ripped off…by a human?" Mark demanded as they followed Brian into the hall.

" I don't know! Jesus I don't fucking know alright, I wasn't there!" He yelled at them, flailing his arms in the air stressfully. Jeff swallowed his vomit that had been inching up his throat and paced around slowly.

" Guys, we need to calm down."

" Calm down? How the hell can we fucking calm down? Someone murdered Shawn!" Brian shouted with a glare of disbelief.

" Jeff has a point Bri. Shawn might still be alive. After all, it was only an extremity that was ripped off. There is a good possibility he survived." Matt muttered weakly.

" Survived getting his arm ripped off from the socket? Yeah…good one Matt." Chris laughed nervously in fear.

" Well then fine. Let's find the rest of him." Mark stated with a glare, sending eerie chills up all of their spines. No one should ever have to run around an abandoned mental asylum looking for the rest of their best friend. Silently, they walked down the hall with trembling legs, attempting to find the rest of Shawn's body…if there even was a body to find. The nagging and terrifying feeling of someone running around the asylum trying to kill people was starting to settle in, creating a dark ominous atmosphere about the building that none of them had sensed before.

While searching, the hours passed from morning to late afternoon until each of them had begun to feel the horror that perhaps Shawn had been chopped up into little pieces.

What if they never found him?

Just as they began to give up, Mark noticed something off in the distance…in the opening he and Shawn had investigated the day before.

" Guys…look…" he whispered, dragging their attention towards the single wheelchair in the middle of the circular room, illuminated by the dim sun rays from outside.

Although the wheelchair was a single entity in the room…it was vacated no longer. As they approached the wheeling object, they were disgusted and horrified to see Shawn sitting in the chair, staring out the window. His left arm had obviously been ripped from the socket and blood was oozing down towards the arm rest beside him, coating it with the dull liquid.

" Oh Christ…" Chris breathed as they made their way over to him. Shawn's head was resting comfortably against his chest and his other arm had been strapped to the chair with the leather restraints. Maybe he was still alive…after all, he was still sitting upright. It wasn't until they were right up close beside him that they had their doubts about his vitals. His usual tanned complexion was now a paling white covered with deep blue veins, ready to bulge from his skin. His eyes were wide open and sunken into their sockets, encircled with a greying colour around the skin.

His usually soft pink lips were now a pale bluish grey, cracked and dry from the stuffy atmosphere around him. Chris reached out slowly and touched his shoulder, shaking him a little. Just from that mere movement, Shawn's head fell back to an unnatural pose, exposing raw flesh and oozing blood. It soon became evident that his throat has been cut almost all the way through his neck and the head was barely hanging on by a piece of flesh. In essence, he was nearly decapitated. Chris jumped back and bumped into Brian who held him in case his legs gave way due to shock and disturbing fright.

" Shawn…" Chris whimpered helplessly, feeling Brian dragging him away from the rotting corpse. Mark and Jeff slowly backed away from the chair with ashen faces, feeling the intensity of what had happened finally starting to take away their balance. Matt leaned over and threw up violently, feeling Jeff's hand against his back, attempting to comfort him as best he could. Mark grabbed onto the wall and looked away from the disgusting sight, feeling close to vomiting himself, but retrained that sickening feeling for the time being. They all just wanted to get the hell out of that room.

" That's it…we're leaving." He mumbled, stumbling down the hall towards the front door. Chris, Matt, Brian and Jeff followed him quickly until they reached the door.

Mark grabbed the handle and jiggled the knob desperately. His eyes widened at the realization of what had happened.

" Fucking hell…it won't budge."

" Excuse me? You mean it's locked?" Brian demanded weakly in disbelief. Matt leaned against the wall beside Chris and blinked away a few tears while Jeff paced around the entrance in denial, shaking his head.

" No, no, NO! This can't be happening! We can't be locked in!" Mark shouted, banging against the rough wood.

" How the hell did the door just…lock?" Chris asked quietly as Matt began to cry silently, sliding to the floor while bringing his knees up to his chest.

" Maybe someone locked it…maybe whoever killed Shawn locked it." Jeff muttered in thought.

" Yeah of all the photo shoots, this is the one that's going to get us all killed." Brian growled helplessly as Mark leaned back against the door in defeat. It was clear they were not getting out this way.

" Aren't there other doors in this place?" Matt asked with a muffled voice as he leaned his head down between his knees and sniffed.

" Yeah but when Chris and I were walking around this dump, we saw that they were all boarded up to prevent teens from coming in here and trashing the joint…not that it's not already like that." Brian explained with a trembling voice of panic.

" And we can't go through windows because they are thick and blocked with prison bars. Well, isn't this a fun place to be locked up in." Jeff snapped angrily, finally stopping his pacing. Silence flooded the building as they all stared down at the floor in a reflective state.

Their friend was dead and probably murdered by some psychopath roaming the halls. The very thought of that patient still being here terrified them so badly, they were all shaking. So it was true…the patient was still here killing people and Shawn was his first victim of the night. None of them knew how they were going to survive being here since that murderer had already made his presence known. Deep horror filled their hearts as they gazed around nervously at the thought of being stuck here for God knows how long with a homicidal maniac…and they had no idea where he was at the moment.

But perhaps the most terrifying notion they had all realized was that they had no idea if there would be another attack, or if there was, when it would be.

An unsettling feeling of 'who's next' soon flooded the darkened silent atmosphere of the asylum.

**Thanks to my reviewers:** _Tina, Edward's Josie Black, Animal Luvr 4 Life, DecemberUndergound, wrestlefan4, Dark Kaneanite _**and**_ TVL_ (nice to have you back!).

Loves ya!

Angel  
xxx


	8. Light Pessimism

**Chapter 8  
**_**Light Pessimism**_

It had been six hours since the guys had found Shawn's mutilated body attached to the wheel chair in the vast opening down the hall. Jeff was still pacing around the kitchen with a blank stare, gazing down at the floor. Matt was sitting silently on the floor, rocking himself gently in order to calm himself down from the shock of seeing one of his best friend's heads almost decapitated. Mark was sitting beside him with an angered expression on his face.

Somehow he felt guilty for leaving Shawn out there all by himself as he finished his sleep, but Brian had kept telling him to stop thinking that way. It was no one's fault that Shawn had to go to the bathroom and it certainly wasn't his fault that some psychopath was out to get them. This was all just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Brian dangled his feet around the edge of the table he was sitting on top of and looked to the left where Chris was peering out the small barred window, watching the rain beginning to pour once again. It was as if some unseen force was attempting to flood the ground around them in an attempt to keep them there forever. Chris shivered at the thought and turned around with a start at Mark's annoyed voice.

"For fuck's sake Jeff. If you don't stop that pacing, you're going to burn a hole in the fucking floor!"

Jeff stopped suddenly and eyed him with a twitching eye of anger and disbelief.

"I just watched Shawn's head come off. Cut me some fucking slack!" he yelled stressfully. Matt remained silent during all of this, as well as Brian. Everyone knew that fighting and yelling at each other was not the best solution to solving the problem but everyone's tension was heightened as well as their fear.

"We all saw it Jeff. That doesn't mean you have to make us all nervous by pacing around like a fucking maniac!" Mark shouted back just as loudly. Chris glared as Mark stood up, advancing towards Jeff. The Canadian stepped between them and raised a hand, stopping them from continuing the discussion.

"No." Chris stated sternly, watching each of their eyes darken.

"Piss off Chris, this doesn't concern you." Mark growled.

"This concerns all of us whether you like it or not. Now what I want everyone to do is stop yelling at each other. Like Matt said before, it's not going to help the situation."

"Yeah says you Chris. You're worse than all of us." Jeff replied, crossing his arms. Chris turned his head and stared at the blue eyed man silently for a moment before answering.

"I may be worse but at least I know when to shut the fuck up. Do you really want some murderous freak knowing exactly where we are? Because all this shouting is probably giving him our locations."

"Wake up Chris; he probably already knows where we are! He knew Shawn went to the bathroom this morning." Mark explained.

They all stared at each other nervously, trying to push away that feeling of anxiety that was still growing within them.

"You know…Mark makes a really good point." Brian said after a while with raised eyes. Chris turned around with an annoyed look upon his face and sighed loudly, indicating that he had already gotten the point a while ago.

"You know what? Fuck you all! I'm going to go find that sick bastard and cut _his_ fucking throat." Mark hissed and began walking quickly towards the door.

"Mark, no!" Jeff yelled after him but was stopped by Chris; a firm hand against his chest.

"Mark you're making a mistake. That thing is going to rip the limbs from your body!" Chris yelled with warning, watching the door open. Mark turned around and cocked his head with fake interest, nodding slightly.

"Yeah well it's not like you fucking care. You were so quick to put the blame on me when Shawn disappeared. I guess if I die then there will be one less burden for you to worry about." He muttered, receiving a painfully hurt look from Matt and Brian.

He was willing to get himself killed just to look Shawn's murderer in the face? It was just plain stupid of him because they all knew that Mark would not survive out there all alone however big he was.

"Mark it's not worth it. Stay here with us so we can wait while someone comes looking for us." Jeff explained shakily, seeing the tears already forming in Mark's eyes.

"Even if I stay here, that freak is gonna come and kill us all while we sleep anyway so what's the point? Might as well go out there and look for him myself. I don't know about you but I'd rather go out in a blaze of glory instead of an innocent victim in my sleep." He explained harshly, watching Chris's cheeks redden with anger and frustration.

"Don't you get it? That creep could have killed Shawn and gone after us as well but he hasn't. My guess is he only attacks at night…and only one person at a time. We'll have a better chance of survival if we stay together." Chris stated quickly as Mark shook his head one last time, disagreeing with him completely on this subject.

"Think what you want Chris. I'm leaving and there is nothing you can do to stop me. I'm sorry but I can't let that bastard get away with this." He muttered and left the room quietly without another word.

"Dammit Mark! He's going to fucking decapitate you!" Chris shouted after him but quickly fell silent as he realized how hopeless his words were. Mark was gone…and would probably be dead by morning.

"Dammit!" He growled loudly and kicked one of the metal stoves, sending a loud vibration throughout the entire room.

"Chris you tried." Brian said quietly with sad eyes, shaking his head slowly.

"I can't believe this. He knows he's going to die so why bother? What the hell is this obsession with finding that creep? Why can't we just leave him alone? He'll come after us anyway." Chris explained, feeling the tears of frustration welling up within his eyes.

"Look, maybe there's another way out-."

"–There is no other way out Brian! We've already looked! This place is a fucking death sentence." Chris muttered, watching Matt's eyes darken and lower beneath his words. It was evident that their morale had diminished considerably since Shawn's death and now they were all on edge…well, beyond the edge.

Mark had gone on a suicidal mission, Jeff couldn't stop pacing, Brian was beginning to lose all hope and Chris was becoming increasingly angry. All Matt could do was sit there silently and wait for them to come up with a solution to this impossible problem.

After a few hours of uncomfortable silence, Brian finally jumped off of the table and glared with a determined look that no one had seen in hours.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Chris demanded as Brian grabbed a flashlight, seeing the darkness beginning to loom over the skies.

"I'm going to go look for Mark. Maybe someone who isn't yelling at him might be able to talk some sense into him." He replied quietly, flicking on the light.

"Well you're not going alone." Chris laughed nervously, shaking his head.

"Are you volunteering to baby sit me Jericho?" Brian asked with an arched brow. Chris eyed him in thought and bit his bottom lip before finally reaching for another flashlight.

"Someone's gotta do it." He replied.

"W-wait…you guys don't honestly believe that the two of you can actually find Mark before that psycho gets to him do you?" Matt asked, standing up slowly.

"Fine, you and Jeff can grab some flashlights and we'll split up." Chris explained, handing them their lights.

"N-no, no, no, no, no, that's not what I meant. We _can't_ get to him in time okay? It's _not_ possible." Matt stated nervously, feeling his hands shaking.

"So what, you just want to stay here and let him be killed?" Brian demanded.

"No I don't want to stay here but if we split up, there's a good chance we'll be killed as well. We can't risk it. Haven't you people ever heard of the saying 'the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few'?"

"Yeah but this is an easy exception." Brian replied with a frown.

"Why's that?" Jeff asked, silently agreeing with Matt's words.

"Mark's a moron. Satisfied?" Chris asked lightly.

"No…not really." Matt answered with lowered eyes.

"Well then you two can stay here like chickens while Brian and I go looking for our dear friend Mark." Chris smiled, but it slowly faded as Brian turned off his flashlight.

"What are you doing?" Chris asked slowly with confusion, watching his fingers twitching against the torch.

"We're not going." He replied flatly, looking Chris right in the eyes.

"But you just said-."

"–I said someone who wasn't going to yell at him and by the looks of things you are already thinking up something to shout at him if we find him." Brian explained with a frown.

Chris rolled his eyes and glanced at Jeff and Matt who were staring at each other silently.

"Okay so what? I'm a little nervous for Christ's sake. If I promise not to yell at him, then can we go?" he asked lightly.

Brian stared at him suspiciously, wondering if Chris's words would stand as truth or if he was just saying that so he could be showered with applause for keeping them all safe. Squinting into that narrow look, Brian gave a heavy sigh and nodded slowly, flicking on his flashlight once more.

"Fine…we'll go. Jeff, you and Matt can go downstairs into the basement and Chris and I will head towards the other end of the building. If we don't find him then we'll come back here to the kitchen and pray to God that somehow he survived." He explained quickly, eyeing Chris with a dark gaze.

"B-basement?" Jeff asked, not entirely sure how sane Brian was at this moment.

"Yeah you know…that cold cement area with no lights and flooded floors?"

"But isn't that a little dangerous? I mean…we could drown."

"In two feet of water?" Matt asked with an arched brow.

"Yeah if we're pushed in head first and held there until the water enters our lungs." Jeff explained nervously, watching each of their faces lighten with amusement.

"Okay it's not funny." He continued as Chris gave a short chuckle.

"Matt, make sure Jeff here doesn't fall into that two feet of water."

"Will do man." He replied with a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah fine…make fun of me all you want." Jeff sighed and shook his head, following Matt out the door.

"Come on Chris…let's try to find him before the sun completely disappears." Brian stated softly, leading him out the other door and down the hall towards the other end of the building. For what seemed like ages, they walked and walked and walked through almost pitch black corridors filled with puddles of stagnant, moulding water and heavy dust.

Coughing, they picked up the pace a little and splashed through the puddles, walking quickly down ends of halls towards dead ends and turning corners into even darker corridors. It seemed that each new corridor was slowly lacking a window until finally all they were left with for light was their flashlights and a good eye. Brian ran his hand along the wall as he and Chris continued their journey past locked offices and pitch black interrogation rooms.

In a way, this building didn't have to be abandoned. It probably still would have been in use were it not for the dead bodies and pools of blood everywhere. Actually…the more they thought about it, it was probably a good thing this building was abandoned after all.

"So…where do you think Mark went?" Brian asked quietly, hearing his voice echoing off the concrete walls. Chris shrugged and flashed his light down the corridor, watching it reflecting off of the muddy, soaked floors.

"Fuck knows. If he wasn't being such an ass, we wouldn't be looking for him in the first place." Brian stopped walking and eyed him angrily. Chris stopped and turned around, facing him with a confused look upon his face.

"What now?"

"Why can't you just say something positive for once? Why do you have to be so fucking pessimistic all the time?"

"Uh well maybe I'm being pessimistic because I don't see anything optimistic about the situation we're in at the moment. If you want to be happy and paint rainbows all over the walls then be my guest." Chris snapped back with a glare. Brian breathed out heavily and shook his head in disbelief. Chris had definitely changed since they had entered the asylum.

No smiles, no laughing unless it was for condescending reasons and no peace. It was as if he were just hoping something bad would happen so he could say 'I told you so'. Either that or he wanted something bad to happen just so he could be the hero at the end of the day.

"You know what Chris?"

"What?"

"Go fuck yourself."

"Yeah you'd like that wouldn't you?" He muttered back and lowered his head. Brian raised a brow and stared at him for a short moment in silence before replying.

"I was speaking figuratively by the way…in case you missed that." He stated with a crooked smile.

"No shit Brian." Chris snapped with a glare.

"What the hell is with all the anger? I didn't do anything." Brian stated with a frown.

"Why is everyone automatically assuming I'm gay? So what if I fell asleep on you? So what if I said 'you'd like that wouldn't you'. So what if I'm making a huge fucking deal out of this?"

Brian blinked slowly at his words and gave a small nod of acknowledgment.

"Yeah I don't know what I was thinking Chris. You're totally not gay."

"Thank you!" he shouted.

"Although you did look awfully happy sleeping against my chest this morning." He chuckled, receiving a blank stare from his friend, who obviously found nothing amusing about all of this.

"Shut the FUCK up Brian." Chris ordered quietly as his laughter died down.

"Sorry Chris. Jesus, you're so fucking sensitive today." He smiled as Chris lowered his eyes and shook his head with a heavy growl of annoyance. Just as he had said this, both their flashlights began flickering dangerously. Brian smacked his hard and frowned with confusion, glancing back at Chris.

"Are these batteries new?"

"No idea but I really don't want to find out and be left in this corridor alone in the fucking dark with a friend who thinks I'm gay." Chris replied with a glare.

"Ugh give it a rest for a while, huh Chris? I'll stop saying you're gay if you stop being so damn angry and irrational."

Chris stared at him for a while and rolled his eyes, giving a heavy sigh.

"Fine…deal."

And just as his words were expelled from his mouth…their flashlights flickered, buzzed and popped. Both of them remained frozen still in fear as the darkness flooded the corridor.

A deafening silence pounded against their ears, leaving them absolutely defenceless within the dark shadows.

* * *

Thanks to my reviewers: Edward's Josie Black, TVL, Tina and Animal Luvr 4 Life.

I'm going to warn you that Chapter 9 is quite long... I got a bit carried away.

Loves ya!

Angel  
xxx


	9. Shivering Warmth

**Chapter 9  
**_**Shivering Warmth**_

"Fucking bastard thinks he can gallivant around this fucking building killing one of my best friends."

Mark's mutterings echoed around the empty corridor that he found himself treading through at a slow pace. He had absolutely no clue where he was but at least he was covering a lot of ground. It seemed that the further into the building he ventured, the darker it became.

It was as if the builders had become bored with building windows down the flooding corridors towards the end of the structure and simply left the walls bare and empty. With his flashlight batteries slowly fading, he wondered how long it would be until he was left by himself in complete darkness. It was only after several hours of walking that he soon began to regret his decision to leave his friends.

Chris had been right…he was safer with them. Did he really want to get himself killed for Shawn's sake or was he simply too scared to face his probable death in the coming days? The more time he spent in the shadows of the asylum, the more he began to understand about this crazed patient, lurking around the building like a ghost. Hell, living in this kind of isolation and darkness was even enough to make _him_ a little antsy, not to mention a psychotic murderer.

Paranoia soon began to flood his mind, causing quiet whispers to dance around his head through the shadows and play with his sanity. Was he really hearing whispers or was it all in his head?

The more he walked, the more his heart pounded at the fact that he thought someone was watching him from the dark. The more he thought about returning to the kitchen out of anxiety, the more tears began to well up in his eyes. He was lost…fucking lost. He could not retrace his steps back towards the safety of his friends because he had just become totally lost and disoriented within the darkness of the cold murky corridors.

Was he upstairs or downstairs? He couldn't for the life of him remember which made it all the more worse because he slowly thought he was already losing his mind. With each pass of the eye, he could have sworn he saw the form of someone shooting out around in front of him, running at him and silently falling back into the shadows. He wiped the nervous perspiration from his brow and continued his journey down the corridor until suddenly he saw what looked like two massive oak doors before him.

Reaching them, he realized that each door was engraved with a small cross. Lifting his flashlight up, he scanned his eyes passed the black lettering of the plaque which read: CHAPEL. The only thing creepier than being inside an abandoned mental asylum was being inside an abandoned church inside an abandoned mental asylum. Feeling a gut instinct to run inside and take shelter from the shadows, Mark pressed his palm heavily against the damp oak wood and pushed open the groaning doors.

Shining his light through the entrance, he paced himself inside slowly, taking in the darkened room which once housed many patients, doctors and staff as well as a priest who would walk towards the alter, bow and proceed to performing the ritual of mass. What was supposed to be a heavenly safe structure, was now an old creaking, moaning room filled with ghastly shadows dancing across the floor and walls.

Mark swallowed his fear and walked down the red carpeted isle towards the massively built alter, standing before him in all its religious glory. The eerie silence of the chapel pounded within his ears, causing his hands to shake terribly against the torch he was holding. Mark stopped and looked up towards the northern wall, which extended up into the vaulted ceiling. Hanging on that wall was one very largely built crucifix, constructed from the finest pine woods.

And as he eyed the massive wooden piece, he couldn't help but notice the man pinned to that cross; his head sagging in defeat, his arms lanky and helpless in their position as each nail had been stabbed through the wrists…holding up the frail body.

The figure's feet had been nailed as well to a small support constructed against the cross, perching his feet comfortably despite the obviously painful gash from the black nail; pinning both feet against each other. But the one image that sent a crawling shiver up his spine were those eyes…the eyes of Christ, half open in pain and agony as well as sadness, staring down at him sympathetically with warning as if to say: Watch yourself, for you will be in terrible suffering.

Even though the face of Christ would normally have been engraved as sorrowful with peace, Mark couldn't help but notice how the shadows played across the wooden visage, creating a deep glare across the figure's pine brow. And in that moment he wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there…so to speak. As he began to walk slowly backwards, he froze suddenly at the terrifying sound behind him. Both heavy oak doors…slammed shut. Mark turned around in panic but nearly fell back when a form seemed to have dissolved in front of him, blocking his exit.

He stared at the blackened face for what seemed like a millennia before it leaned into the dim beam of his flashlight, exposing the pale face. Mark's heart stopped as he stared into those crazed dark blue eyes, watching them scan him with amusement. Suddenly, as if a great wave of relief washed over him, Mark sighed heavily, clutching his chest with fatigue from fright.

"Fucking hell, you scared the shit out of me. I thought you were that creepy ass patient." He breathed, eyeing the man closely with annoyance. An uncomfortable silence soon fell upon both men as they stared at each other until Mark began to frown with uncertainty.

Why was he just staring at him? Where were the others?

"Hey man, you okay?" He asked quietly, watching the blue orbs intensely with worry. The young man walked forward slowly a little, causing Mark to stumble backwards towards the alter with shaky legs. Why was he forcing him back…and why was he not saying a word?

"Uh…maybe we should get back to the kitchen. I think I've had enough running around for today." Mark muttered with a trembling voice. The man stopped before him and stared at him silently for several moments before a small smile began to twitch against his pink lips. Mark frowned with confusion as the person in front of him stood there silently.

Why was he smiling? Was there something amusing about being inside of a dark chapel?

"Um…seriously dude, you're starting to really freak me out." Mark stated, feeling the jittering of his muscles as he tried not to run out of the building in fear. This was the first time in his entire life that one of his best friends were sending chills up his spine with just one look. The man approached Mark once again with that slow, confident walk; his gaze never faltering. Mark froze with realization during the current situation.

One of his best friends was advancing on him with a murderous look in his eyes. It couldn't be…could it?

Was he the homicidal patient that used to live here? The age seemed about right since 1986. Mark didn't want to believe it…but somehow he couldn't help but believe it since the man was now mere inches from his face, backing him up against the table on the alter.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." Mark whispered in disbelief, watching the man's smile grow even wider.

"Enjoy the dark…" His friend whispered with a deeply inhuman voice echoing off of the cathedral walls. Marks's eyes widened in disbelief as his flashlight dimmed and faded into the darkness, leaving both men stranded inside the pitch black church.

And through the silence, Mark gave an earth shattering scream as he felt something enter his wrist, pinning him to the front of the table. Another unbelievable stabbing pain entered his other wrist, pinning that one to the table as well and he could feel the hot blood trickling down his arms.

"D-don't kill me…please don't k-kill me!" The poor man pleaded to his friend as he felt one cold hand wrap around his neck while the other grabbed the top of his head.

Mark gave another scream as his neck twisted with a snap, causing his scream to stop short and whither away. Flesh ripped away from flesh as the bones in his neck snapped, spilling blood down his torso and pooling onto the floor below.

* * *

"Chris!" Brian shouted, walking down the pitch black corridor. He had to run his hands along the wall in order to keep himself balanced and to warn himself of any turns. Since the batteries had flopped out on them, they had both agreed to separate, which probably wasn't the best idea, in order to find Mark quicker.

Besides, if they were split up, it would be harder for that homicidal freak to find them and kill them…even in the dark. Feeling somewhat uncomfortable without Chris, he began searching for him helplessly.

Finding Mark would be far too difficult in the dark and he silently hoped to himself that somehow Chris had found him. Although the chances of that happening were around zero, he still felt confident that Mark was still alive at least.

"Dammit Chris…" He grumbled to himself, hoping that _he_ hadn't been killed either. Just as he felt the wall curving into a turn, he tripped on a piece of raised flooring and fell into a deep mucky puddle. Splashing and thrashing around, he sat up and coughed with lowered eyes. It was just his luck that he had to fall into some water and get all his clothes wet.

He couldn't even begin to imagine how cold he was going to become as the night became thicker. Giving a heavy sigh, he leaned back against the wall…only to feel something grabbing his arm tightly.

"What the fuck…" he muttered breathlessly and tried to pull away but to no avail. The grip on his arm was strong and it was pulling him up to his feet.

"Get the hell away from me!" Brian shouted, pulling away from the person who was now attempting to hold on to him by the shoulder.

"Brian…" The person muttered with irritation, finally getting a good grip on his soaked shirt.

"Let me go you crazy fucker or I swear to God I will snap your neck!" Brian coughed through the dust that was now being kicked around from the floor between them.

"Brian for fuck's sake its me." Chris stated loudly with a heavy sigh, pinning him to the wall in order to stop him from splashing water all over himself. Brian froze instantly and swallowed hard, trying to see his friend through the darkness…although it was increasingly difficult.

"How do I know its really you? What if you're really that crazy ass patient trying to kill me!"

Chris rolled his eyes (not that Brian could see him though) and gave a heavy sigh of annoyance.

"Trust me Bri, if I was a crazy murderer I would have drown you in that puddle for being so fucking loud already." Chris hissed, causing Brian to relax slightly at the sound of his voice cascading off the walls.

"Sorry…you scared the hell out of me." He mumbled, feeling Chris's grip release from his shirt.

"Did you find Mark?" Chris asked cautiously, just picturing the glare forming on Brian's face.

"Um…yeah because he's standing right beside me. No I didn't find Mark! What the hell is the matter with you? Are you stuck on stupid?" Brian practically yelled, feeling Chris's hand cover his mouth in an attempt to silence him.

"Brian…shut up…" Chris growled, pulling him down the hall.

"What the hell do you care anyway? You probably want that fucking patient to find us so he can kill us all and then you'll be considered a heroic victim who tried to save his band's life." Brian explained loudly as they continued to walk blindly down the corridor. Chris rolled his eyes again and bit his bottom lip.

"What the hell is your problem with me anyway?"

"I never said I had a problem with you." Brian replied casually, suppressing his anger.

"Then why the fuck are you yelling at me? I'm not the one killing everyone! I only asked if you found Mark because its fucking dark in here and I can't see a thing! How the hell was I supposed to know you were alone? Dammit Brian I'm not trying to be a hero, I'm trying not to get us killed and you won't shut your fucking mouth." Chris explained stressfully, feeling the tears beginning to sting his cloudy eyes.

Brian closed his mouth before he could say anything else and remained silent during the entire walk back to where they started. Thankfully Chris knew where he was going somehow and they ended up in the corridor that led towards the kitchen. Maybe he had been a little hard on Chris.

After all, it wasn't his fault that people were dying left and right. He was just trying to protect his friends…even if that meant being snappy and aggressive. Chris was a good leader…he just wasn't very compassionate when he was afraid which usually led to anger more than anything. When they arrived inside the kitchen, they took one look around and their hearts immediately sank. Matt and Jeff had not returned from the search yet…if they were even going to return.

"I don't mean to be the pessimist but…I think Matt and Jeff were murdered." Chris turned his head slowly towards Brian who was sporting a very nervous look.

"Brian…if you say one more word, I'm going to rip out your tongue and make you eat it." He growled under his breath, watching Brian's dark eyes lower.

"That's an attractive image." He muttered back sarcastically.

Chris sunk down to the floor and raised his knees to his chest, then lowered his head onto them uncomfortably in thought. Just because Jeff and Matt hadn't returned yet, didn't mean they were never going to return. Perhaps they were just lost and since they were together, they'd be safe. Brian flopped down beside Chris and rang out the bottom of his soaked shirt, watching the water dripping onto the mucky floor below.

He had already begun to feel a chilling draft blow its way through his shirt, creating frigid goose bumps against his soft skin beneath. If he didn't find something to warm him quickly, the night would for sure bring hypothermia. Of course the cold floor was not helping his ass much since that part had begun to freeze already.

"They could still be alive…" Chris muttered quietly into his knees, provoking a nod from Brian.

"If they stayed together…"

"Well we didn't get killed when we separated." Chris explained with a frown.

"Maybe that's because that freak was busy killing Mark-."

"–Okay you can stop being pessimistic now." Chris interrupted, shooting his friend a dirty look. Brian sighed loudly and sat back against the wall, averting his gaze from 'the beast'. He just couldn't get a smile or even a good word out of Chris.

Everything he said to him was mean and nasty…even if Brian was stating the possible fact that Mark had been killed.

* * *

The darkened night was filled with screaming wind, pounding against the barred windows and ghostly shadows dancing about the kitchen menacingly. Brian leaned his head back against the concrete wall and closed his eyes tightly, all the while attempting to get his shivering limbs to warm.

Of course if was of no use so he just sat there trembling violently as the gusty winds screamed through cracks in the walls, sending chilly drafts throughout the entire room. Chris cracked his eyes open a little and glanced over at Brian who was huddled up in a sitting position with his knees against his chest and his arms around them. He watched his damp clothes rattle against his frail body and wondered how long it would be until he completely froze to death. Chris swallowed hard and slid closer to him, watching his eyes open slightly.

"Is my shivering pissing you off?" Brian demanded through chattering teeth. Chris lowered his eyes guiltily and bit his bottom lip. The last thing he wanted was Brian thinking he was angry with him. After all, they weren't exactly in the best position and imminent death became likelihood for the pending days. Right now his friend needed…well, a friend.

"Brian you look like you're freezing-."

"–That much obvious Jericho?" he interrupted quietly, staring into those dark blue eyes and sympathetic orbs.

"Sorry…I'm just trying to help."

"Help? You're trying to help me? I don't need your fucking help because God knows you've helped enough already. You didn't even ask if I had any cash on me so we could stay at a fucking bed and breakfast for six days. Instead you assumed we were poor and forced us to stay in this shit hole." Brian muttered under his breath as the cold rattled his bones and caused his fingers to become pink.

"Did you have money?" Chris asked with a furrowed brow. Brian looked around the room silently and sighed out shakily; an indication that he had none.

"No…but we could have found a nice place to park the van and sleep. You know, Asda parking lots are perfect for that sort of thing."

"Brian there are no Asda's for miles…besides camping out in a van with six guys is not exactly practical."

"No but at least Shawn would still be alive…maybe even Mark if he's smart enough to hide." Brian lashed back, causing Chris to slump down a little in defeat. He was right…staying here was a mistake but they didn't exactly have many options.

"Look man," Chris began but quickly became quiet. There really wasn't anything he could say to make this any better. Besides, Brian was just going to yell at him anyway.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered, receiving a dirty glance from the younger man.

"You should be Chris. You've condemned us all to hell." He replied with a sideways smile.

"Is that sarcasm or are you trying to make me feel like shit?" Chris asked in a low tone.

"Well lucky for you, that was sarcasm. But I'm also trying to make you feel like shit. I also know you're just trying to look out for everyone so I'm going to cut you some slack for now." He explained.

Chris smiled a little and sighed out sharply, glancing at him for a long moment.

"There are many ways to raise body temperature but since we have no blankets, hot water bottles or heaters…there's only one option left." Chris explained casually with a smirk.

"And that would be…" Brian stated quietly. Chris sat up a little and eyed him carefully from head to toe, sensing Brian already becoming tense because he knew what his friend was thinking.

"I hope you're not suggesting-."

"–Take off your clothes."

Brian stared at Chris for the longest moment, wondering if perhaps this was just a stupid joke. But the longer he stared at him, watching those stubborn yet authoritative eyes he knew that this was no joke.

He was serious.

"Uh…excuse me?"

"They're wet and they are turning you into a human icicle. If you don't take them off, the cold will stay on your body and won't let any warm air in." Chris explained.

"Chris…what warm air?" Brian demanded with a crackling voice, peering around the room nervously.

"Well Brian, we haven't made any yet." He replied with a low voice, eyeing him dangerously.

"We?"

"Take your pick man, pants or shirt? Either way…you are going to warm up…if not, heat up." Chris explained with a small smile dancing across his pink lips. Brian gave a short nervous laugh and shook his head at the absurdity of the conversation.

"Have you gone mental?" he demanded.

"I'm going to ignore the irony in that…" Chris replied and moved his hand slowly towards Brian's belt. Brian frowned and moved away a little but not before Chris pulled him back with a firm grip on the arm.

"Bri, you'll freeze." He stated warmly with concern.

"Um yeah but at least my dignity will be in tact." He replied with a furrowed brow. Mike gave a heavy sigh and nodded a little.

"Okay fine, I understand why you don't want to do this but just think about it for a second. We're both fucking freezing-."

"–You look fine to me."

The Canadian stared at him for a long moment before finally continuing.

"Let me finish. I'm cold…you're freezing. I say in order to stay alive, we do this. This is a survival instinct." He explained.

"Instinct would be acting on…well instinct. You're just doing this because you want to humiliate me and make me feel like an idiot. Find someone else to be your fuck buddy." He snorted and crossed his arms with finality. Chris lowered his eyes and slowly began stroking his goose bump filled arm softly.

"Brian…I'm worried about you. I don't need another one of my best friends dying on me. I don't really want to wake up to a rotting corpse tomorrow morning." He explained with a gentle voice, almost seeming to stop the roaring wind outside.

Chester swallowed hard, feeling his dry throat as Chris's face seemed to have gotten a lot closer to his during the passing seconds.

"Um Chris…I don't think this is such a good id-."

Brian swallowed his words as he felt Mike's soft lips pressed against his hungrily in anticipation. Tongues massaged each other violently, each battling for space within the deep cavern of warm mouths.

Brian hadn't realized it but between short breaths and tickling sensations, Chris had unbuckled his belt and was now slowly prying the damp jeans off of his body. Brian gave an unexpected moan as he felt Chris's hand slowly rubbing the obvious bulge now growing beneath the black boxers.

Chris kissed his way down his jaw line and onto the sensitive flesh of his neck, all the while still squeezing and tugging at Brian's erection. He gave a low gasp as Chris squeezed a little tighter and lifted his head, watching Brian's eyes closing tightly. If this wasn't going to warm him up, he didn't know what would.

Chris gave a small smirk, enjoying the look of uncertain pleasure upon his best friend's face and decided to venture a little further into the feeling. Slowly, he pulled down Brian's boxers and swallowed very hard, eyeing the member with a watering mouth. He had him right where he wanted him and it all felt too perfect. For days he had wanted to do this...but couldn't since there had been no good opportunities.

Brian opened his eyes a little and stared at Chris who was unbuttoning his shirt as slowly as possible, never once returning back to the throbbing impatience below. With a barely audible groan, he moved himself closer into Chris and pressed his shaking body against him. Chris attacked him once again with hot kisses and proceeded to push the flimsy shirt off of his torso, jutting it to the floor below. Moving his hands lightly against Brian's stomach, he once again with a slow pace began tickling the soft skin all the while feeling the kiss becoming deeper and deeper with each passing moment. Brian ran his warming hands up Chris's back and neck then into his soft blonde hair, pulling him closer with a painful tug. Chris moaned into his mouth and pushed him back against the wall with a loud thud. The Canadian slid himself onto Brian's waist and pressed his shoulders tightly against the cold concrete wall, then tickled one hand downward once again towards his hardened member.

Brian's heart rate quickened and began pounding against his chest at an abnormal level, heating his blood into a frenzy as Chris took his member into his hand and began pumping him roughly yet slowly. The pace was absolutely unbearable for Brian but so beautifully amazing as his eyes instinctively rolled into the back of his head. Chris's eyes fluttered softly as his own erection began twitching at the sight of Brian's lips parting in agonizing bliss. All morals and dignity flew out the window as Brian unconsciously began vibrating and arching into Chris's hand. Swallowing nothing, Brian reluctantly grabbed Chris's hand and pushed it away from his leaking member then stared at him with lust filled eyes.

"More..."

Chris's cheeks reddened at the sound of Brian's raspy voice so full of demanding and need. Watching his chest rising and falling rapidly, he pulled himself down and shakily breathed out with trembling arousal. Well...that worked.

Feeling the heat beginning to burn his cheeks, peered up at Brian and blinked slowly, watching him writhing at the excruciating halt of pleasure. In this moment, he was no longer his best friend but another human being craving that instinctual orgasmic release. Lowering his head, Chris began licking around the shaft, hearing Brian's breathing becoming short and quick. Feeling the heat radiating off his member, he wrapped his mouth around the erection and created a heavenly suction which caused Brian's head to fall back against the wall behind him.

"Oh my fucking GOD..."

Brian moaned long and loudly as Brian began sucking as hard as he could, all the while circling the erection with his tongue. Brian arched his back suddenly and continued to cry out soft moans as each swirl of the tongue mingled with the heavy sucking. Perspiration dotted their brows as the air around them became heated in the moment of bliss. Brian forced his lazy eyes open and watched the amazing site of Chris's head bobbing up and down, creating waves of pleasure to wash over his body. Instinctively, he mangled his fingers into Chris's hair and began creating a dangerously rapid pace at which the pleasure only increased for both of them. Chris's eyes became tightly shut as his own arousal began to harden him painfully beyond belief which in turn caused him to moan around Brian's erection, sending amazing vibrations throughout his body.

Brian gasped loudly as Chris suddenly deep throated him, causing him to shiver and tremble violently. Various obscenities and low guttural moans escaped Brian's mouth which only encouraged Chris further into the act. Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, Brian ripped at Chris's hair, pulling him away from the violently throbbing member. Chris stared at him with confusion and lust, licking his lips and breathing heavily through the heated moment. Why had Brian stopped him? He had obviously been enjoying it.

"Fuck me." Brian growled pulling Chris up onto his waist then crashed his lips against his own, beginning yet another frenzied battle. Chris could feel Brian's hands fumbling around his belt then yanked the jeans from his waist, throwing them to the floor. With another swift movement, he shakily ripped off his boxers and pulled Chris closer. The next thing Chris knew was that his shirt had been torn off and Brian was now readying him with his own spit. This wasn't exactly going to be the most gentle move in human history but it was desperately needed.

Without another thought, Chris grabbed Brian for dear life and slowly, yet carefully thrusted into him a little. Brian winced terribly at the sensation and dug his nails painfully into Chris's damp skin. They stared at each other intensely during the painful moment yet could not look away. They were locked away in a trance, peering lustfully into each other's eyes. Chris gently kissed away Brian's burning tears while thrusting in just a little more until finally he was there. Their breathing remained heavy as Chris froze, allowing Brian to adjust to the massive intrusion. Feeling Brian's hot muscles pulsating around his member, Chris couldn't help but whimper a little in question, needed so badly to move. With a short nod, Brian gave the signal and growled out loudly as Chris began to slowly thrust into him. The pace was slow at first but quickly became more rapid as the pain began to whither away and was replaced with amazing bliss.

Chris moaned out loudly and his eyes fell shut so tightly he could see starts. Brian gasped for air and groaned, feeling Chris's hot body creating a spectacular speed. As the pace became faster, so did their breathing and moaning. Chris bit down on Brian's neck as a sudden burst of pleasure cascaded throughout his body, eliciting a deep and guttural shout from Brian. Faster and faster, harder and harder, two bodies mingled as one and created a hazy atmosphere filled with rising cries and moans. Chris wrapped his hand around Brian's erection and tugged at it violently in time with his thrusts until they could only shout and cry in bliss, no longer capable of comprehensive speech or thoughts. Feeling that agonizingly pleasurable tightening in the pit of their stomachs, they both screamed in unison, coming violently with trembling limbs while seeing stars.

Slowing the pace, they road out their throbbing orgasms and panted violently against one another. They both slid down from the wall and leaned down against one another on the floor, feeling each other's pounding hearts. Because their strength had been depleted, no words passed between them...only peaceful silence. As they melted into each other's heat, sleep soon overcame them and the night felt warmer than it had ever felt.

As they fell into their comfortable slumber, deep down into the depths of the asylum and into the pitch black freezing basement, two men shivered with wide eyes in horror, frozen in place with fear...


	10. Orchestra of Death

**Chapter 10  
**_**Orchestra of Death**_

_He who fights monsters should look into that he himself does not become a monster. When you gaze along into the Abyss, the Abyss also gazes into you. --Friederich Nietzche_

" What the HELL just touched me?" Jeff whispered with a shaking gasp. He and Matt had been lost downstairs for quite some time and assumed that they were in the basement by now. Matt's flashlight had burned out a while ago (so much for shopping at a discount supply store) and the only illumination came from Jeff's torch which still had a functioning light bulb. While meandering through thick musty tunnels, they began to notice the metal pipes stretching along the ceiling, still dripping with stale water and creating deep puddles on the stony floor below.

" Something touched you?" Matt whispered in response as they both froze in fear.

" Dude something has been brushing past me and hitting me the whole time we've been down here! I swear to God there is something or someone down here trying to fucking ki-."

Jeff stopped and looked down with lowered eyes, watching Matt's hand clutching his light coat tightly.

" Dammit Matt!" He nearly shouted, sending Matt tumbling against the stone wall to their left.

" What?" he demanded in shock through the intensity at which Jeff had smacked him away.

" It's been you the whole time hasn't it? Every time a wall creaks or water drips, you grab me like a little girl and scare the hell out of me, thinking it was that homicidal maniac!"

Matt stared at him guiltily and bit his bottom lip.

" Well sorry for being scared but its kind of cold and dark down here. Besides, you've been gasping and jumping around all night and I still haven't seen this shadow you keep saying is creeping along the walls." He explained calmly as if they were safe at home or in a comfortable hotel room.

Jeff found it slightly odd that his voice carried no tune of fear but figured that perhaps it was because Matt was perfect at hiding that sort of emotion. Just like Chris, he could push down all that terror so easily but unlike his Canadian friend, he never became aggressive or angry. Matt was calm when he needed others to become calm.

" I'm telling you man, there is something evil down here." Jeff stated with a low voice, flashing his light down the hall and watching it reflecting off of the glistening puddles.

" You're paranoid. There is no one down here but us and if you keep freaking out over a little shadow, I'm going to have to go on without you." Matt explained shortly before beginning to walk again. Jeff's eyes widened and he followed closely beside him, carefully stepping over raised stones and pieces of brick.

" You want to leave me because I'm scared?" he demanded with quiet disbelief. Matt's dark vision never left the black pit of halls before them and he continued on without stopping for irrelevant discussion.

" There is _nothing_ down here Jeff."

" Then why do I keep hearing footsteps?"

" You're not hearing anything. Your mind is playing tricks on you, that's all." Matt replied with a heavy sigh, running his hand along the damp stone wall they were following.

For hours, they remained silent and continued finding their way through the massive lower level sometimes referred to as a basement. Even in the light, this place seemed ghostly and dark and having a psychotic patient running around the asylum was not exactly helping the situation. He could have been down here for all they knew…that or perhaps Mark was down here hiding. Either way, they were still determined to find their friend before sun up. As their long journey increased, they both discovered that the atmosphere at this end of the basement was becoming bone-chilling cold and that there was this eerie stale smell coming from somewhere.

Matt suddenly stopped as he felt something sharp poke his hand followed by a straw-like sensation. Jeff froze in place and watched as Matt lifted his hand off of the wall while holding a tangled mesh of matted hair and dried blood. Jeff shone his light on the bronze coloured hairs and swallowed hard while Matt gave a disgusted look.

" Well…it's not Mark's."

" No shit." Jeff replied weakly as Matt shook the mess from his hand. They both turned their heads and stared at the wall; the flashlight caused the golden hairs to glisten beneath the light and it was evident that they were still tangled between stone and grout. Obviously that had been someone's unfortunate demise as the blood stains on the wall became larger near the end of the hall.

" Maybe Chris and Brian found Mark and are tossing back a few cold ones upstairs." Jeff whispered with closed eyes, praying that Matt would agree to leave the basement as soon as possible with him.

" What's that?" Matt asked suddenly, interrupting Jeff's prayers.

" What's what?"

" That door." The taller of the two replied and grabbed the flashlight, shining it in the direction of the new discovery.

" Well Matt I believe you already said yourself it was a door." Jeff stated with agitation knowing instinctively that Matt would venture towards it without knowing what was behind it.

" Come on." Matt whispered and began to move forward but was stopped by a stiff hand against his chest.

" Man, that door is metal and is probably locked. There is no way in hell we are getting in there so could we please just forget it and find a way upstairs?" Jeff demanded desperately, watching his brother's dark gaze burning into him with curiosity. Without another word, Matt pushed past him and pressed his left hand against the cold metallic door, while the other gripped the doorknob tightly.

" Matt, this is a very bad fucking idea." Jeff whispered but was silenced by Matt who gave him an annoyed glare.

" What if Mark's in there?"

" And what if he's not?"

" Then I guess we'll just have to find out now won't we?"

" Matt you can't be serious! You don't know what's in there!" Jeff hissed but closed his mouth as the door creaked open loudly. Resisting the urge to growl at Matt for being so damn blinded by curiosity, Jeff followed him towards the middle of the dark room.

" What the hell is this place?" Jeff whispered in shock as they both stared at their surroundings. In the middle of the room stood a massive metal table with worn down wheels on each leg. Each time the flashlight passed the metal, deep scratches would glimmer on the surface of the metal and create creepy reflections on the tiled walls of the room. Connected to the edge of the table stood a long high and skinny metal faucet, probably used for getting rid of excess blood if necessary. Below the table, indenting into the floor was a rusted old drain.

The one thing though, that attracted their vision to it was the dark brown stains still clinging around the edge of the circular base. Moving their vision up again, they noticed the dented metal doors inserted into the wall. Six of those doors were open, revealing deep cavernous drawers, used to keep the bodies frigid and icy. In fact, not only were the insides of the drawers icy, but the entire room felt like a freezer.

Matt breathed out heavily and could see his smoky breath disappearing into the air as if it were some ghost, rising up out of his lungs. Their attention was now brought down to a small metal tray with wheels and on that tray were some very dangerous and sharp looking objects, glinting malevolently into their eyes.

And just as they thought this place couldn't get any creepier, in the corner of the room stood a hugely built door with metal bars covering a small opening. Lifting the flashlight over the door, they both read the letters situated against a dull silver plaque which read: INCINERATOR. Slowly, Matt and Jeff looked at each other and shivered simultaneously as they realized what room this was.

" Dude, we're in the fucking morgue." Jeff stated in response to his own question. Rob swallowed his fear and felt an uneasy chill run up his spine, causing the hairs to stand up on the back of his neck.

" Okay, I take it back. Maybe we shouldn't have come in here."

" You think?" Jeff demanded but jumped suddenly as the door behind them slammed shut; the flashlight falling to the floor. Breathing heavily, they both slowly moved away from the door towards the drawers and stopped, watching the darkness intently. Even with their hearts pounding in their ears, they couldn't help but hear the slow footsteps treading towards them, much like the ticking of a clock. The rolling of the flashlight stopped as a foot pressed onto it and was slowly replaced by a hand picking it up. Matt and Jeff both stared at the form with sheer terror, not sure if they even wanted to know who he was. The man raised the flashlight to about waist level and stared at the two shivering men at the back of the room.

With a small smile, his glistening eyes scanned them and much to his own amusement of seeing two people frightened to the point of pissing their pants, he wouldn't allow this to drag on forever.

" Tsk, tsk…running around an old dusty morgue. You're both liable to get hurt down here. After all, this room is filled with knives and all sorts of dangerous objects. One slip and you could become a sliced tomato."

Jeff and Matt instantly relaxed as they listened to the familiar voice echoing off of the walls.

" Dammit, why the hell did you have to slam that fucking door? You scared the shit out of us!" Jeff stated loudly while watching his friend slowly advancing towards him.

" Gosh I'm sorry. Next time I'll be sure to close it quietly so the rats and other rodents won't shit their pants." He replied with a low voice, stopping suddenly to stare into their darkened eyes.

" Where's your other half…and your shirt?" Matt asked quietly, eyeing the man's bare chest.

" Oh him, he's upstairs sleeping in the kitchen. I figured I'd try to look for you guys and make sure you didn't get yourselves killed."

" Well gee, we really appreciate the sentiment but do you think leaving him upstairs alone is the best thing to do? I mean, what if he's m-."

" –Murdered? Nah, so far people have been killed while they were awake. Dying in one's sleep isn't exactly a very invigorating thing to see."

" People?" Matt asked weakly while giving a nervous look of confusion. Jeff sensed the tension in Matt's voice and peered at the man standing before them with wide eyes.

" Oh my God…"

The man gave a wide smile and nodded, looking around the morgue with satisfaction.

" Poor Mark. You know he had a really good fighting chance. Not like Shawn who unfortunately died before he even realized what was going on. Oh and as for the shirt? I figured it would be less of a mess if I just chucked it."

" You bastard…it's been you the whole time hasn't it! You killed Shawn and Mark!" Jeff yelled as Matt remained silent with shock and fear.

" Well…I can't take all the credit." He laughed in response, then frowned in thought.

" Wait…I lied. I can."

" I can't believe this…right under our noses. How the hell could you do this? Mark and Shawn were your friends!" Jeff nearly shrieked, causing an amused smile to overcome the man's face.

" A common misconception. They weren't _my_ friends…they were _his_ friends. And by the way, _he_ is not responsible for any of this. He's merely a host, a piece of flesh. I on the other hand am the mastermind behind all of this."

" Mastermind? You killed two innocent people!" Jeff yelled as loud as he could with sheer fury.

" You're right…and I'm about to kill two more…" he growled back.

" You sick son of a bitch." Jeff muttered angrily through his teeth and advanced towards his 'friend' but was instantly sent flying backwards as he was punched in the face…hard. Matt looked up from Jeff's crumpled form on the floor and blinked quickly with fear. Good Lord he was going to be murdered just like Shawn and apparently Mark.

" P-please don't hurt us." He whimpered quietly, hopefully in an attempt to spark his friend's consciousness.

" Don't worry…I won't hurt both of you right at this moment." He replied with a calm voice that seemed to cause Matt to relax a little, despite seeing one of his best friends become a homicidal maniac.

" But…I will hurt him first." Matt's eyes widened to their full extent until everything went black, followed by a throbbing pain in his head.

The dark figure loomed over Jeff's shaking body as he slowly began to awaken from the punch, and dropped the broken flashlight he had used to smash against Matt's head.

" You know," he began as he lifted Jeff up by the arms and pushed him onto the autopsy table.

" The more time I spend with you people," He gave a heavy sigh while bringing his legs up onto the table and restraining them with leather straps as well as his arms. " The more pissed off I become. And do you want to know why I become so fucking pissed?" he asked slowly as Jeff's eyes began to flutter open painfully.

" You people are all so fucking weak. You tremble and fall to your knees the moment you think you're in danger. No punching, no kicking, no biting. Have you any idea how fucking irritating that gets after a while?" he demanded casually while picking up a long shiny blade from the tray, then began eyeing it with interest. Jeff stared at him in a complete daze, still feeling the throbbing sensation in his jaw.

" Just once…just once I want someone to come at me, you know? One good fight at least. Being threatening and intimidating is quite exhilarating I must admit…but there's no challenge! You're all lazy asses! Begging me not to hurt you? What the hell kind of shit is that?"

Jeff's eyes widened as he ripped off his shirt and lowered the blade to his left clavicle.

" Hmmm…I guess torturing you will just have to satisfy me for now." He smiled, pressing the blade into Jeff's soft skin, now dotted with perspiration.

" You fucking psycho!" Jeff screeched as pain immediately began flooding the area where the blade had entered.

" I prefer the term: Criminally Insane." He replied almost with amusement and admittance. Jeff yelped helplessly as his 'friend' began dragging the sharp blade down towards the middle of his chest. Blood oozed and squeezed through the parted skin, just begging to burst and squirt.

" You're one of the lucky ones my dear friend. Do you want to know why?" he asked calmly as if nothing was happening. Jeff's chest heaved up and down raggedly as he felt the blade moving up to his right clavicle.

" Fuck you…" he hissed desperately.

" Fine, I'll tell you anyway. You are lucky because," He slowly began dragging the blade through the other side of his clavicle all the way down to the middle of the chest, meeting up with the other incision.

" You're probably the first person in the history of man to experience their own autopsy." He breathed, staring into Jeff's frightened eyes, shaking with tears.

Pressing the blade down hard, he gutted him like a fish all the way down to his crotch, causing blood to spill and splash onto his tight chest, all the while hearing Brad's screams ringing in his head. He stared down at his specimen with amused eyes, admiring his perfect Y-incision.

" Hell, I'd be a great medical examiner." He mumbled to himself and placed the dripping knife back onto the tray carefully. Turning back to the squirming, trembling man on the table, he gave a wicked smile and pressed his fingers into his incisions, then ripped open the skin, exposing the rib cage. Blood tricked and pumped through Jeff's nose and mouth, choking him from what he had left of life.

He then picked up a massive looking butcher's knife (which looked more like a huge thick blade the size of a table attached to a handle) and pressed it down onto the ribs, cracking and splintering them open. Blood and pieces of bone flew up into his face but that didn't seem to faze him as he glared down into Jeff's lifeless orbs.

Reaching down, he gripped the limp oozing heart and ripped it out with such force, blood began trickling down his wrist and arm. He stared at the heart and squeezed it as hard as he could and watched as it exploded into a mangled piece of muscle and tissue, squirting blood all over Jeff's greying face.

Shaking the flesh onto the floor, he grabbed the overly sized rib cruncher and held it over his neck, smiling deviously with pleasure and satisfaction. With a crack, the head became separate from the neck and rolled lazily to its side…the eyes still wide open in horror. The man once known as a friend to Jeff, stepped towards the faucet while staring down at Matt's unconscious body. Water and blood mixed as one and rained down onto the floor, swirling into the drain and disappearing into the leaky pipes beneath the asylum.

When he was sure he had cleaned off all traces of blood from his hands, arms, chest and face, he proceeded to grab Matt into his arms and drag him towards one of the chilly drawers. With a grunt, he slid Matt onto a slab and rolled him into the darkened cabinet. Staring at the unmoving form inside, he blinked slowly with a frown…then slammed the door shut.

Silence no longer deafened the room as blood dripped thickly onto the tile flooring, creating a frightening orchestra of death, echoing off the walls.

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers:**_Edward's Josie Black, Dark Kaneanite, Tina, CMPunksxXxGirl, TVL, Mosvie 2k8, wrestlefan4 _**and**_ Animal luvr 4 Life._

Loves ya!

Angel  
xxx


	11. Stabbing Memories

**Chapter 11  
**_**Stabbing Memories**_

Rumbling thunder echoed throughout the grey skies in the early morning filled with the wet smell of rain. Brian rolled over and shivered slightly at the breeze filtering into the kitchen through the various cracks in the cement walls. Frowning at the sudden draft, he brought his arms up to his chest in an attempt to warm his shivering body but to no avail. He was freezing his ass off…literally. A sudden zipping sound caused his ears to perk and he gave a heavy sigh of fatigue, not wanting to open his eyes to find out what he was hearing.

A few moments later, he heard a shuffling sound…and then it hit him. Brian opened his eyes with a tight squint as his shirt and pants were thrown at his face, burning the skin with his belt.

"Dammit," he groaned and pushed his clothes off of his own face. Looking up, he watched as Chris kneeled down and began tying his shoes frantically while peering around the kitchen with a disturbed look upon his face. Brian then assumed that he had remembered what he had done last night and it was starting to affect him.

"What's the rush?" The younger man asked calmly and sat up, sliding his pants on. Chris's eyes darted towards him but quickly averted his gaze as he stood up and ran a hand through his blonde hair.

Get dressed." He ordered quietly and padded towards the various cabinets and drawers of the kitchen.

Brian raised a brow and pulled on his shirt, not quite sure what his best friend was doing fumbling through drawers and cupboards. What was he looking for? Slipping on his shoes as quickly as possible, Brian stood up and meandered his way towards Chris who was opening and slamming drawers. It looked as if he was in some sort of panicked state…but couldn't figure out why.

" We raiding the kitchen or something?" he demanded with a confused glare. Chris blinked at him once and opened the last drawer at the end of the counter. With relieved eyes, he reached into the drawer and took out a long serrated knife then took a moment to observe the dull lighting from outside glisten against the blade.

"Whoa, Chris…what are you doing?" Brian asked shakily while watching his friend's eyes quiver with anticipation and excitement. It was a crazed look he had never seen before and quite frankly it was starting to upset him. Chris ignored his friend's comment and continued rummaging through the drawer then pulled out various sized knives, inserting them between his belt and jeans.

Was he preparing for war?

"Earth to Jericho, sanity is calling you back!" Brian stated loudly in an attempt to get his attention…which of course didn't work. Still in a state of utter confusion, Brian stared at the many blades he continued to slide between his belt. Stopping for a moment, Chris peered out the window and swallowed hard, looking as if he were thinking hard about something. Blinking quickly with realization, he looked down and ripped out four of the six knives he had equipped himself with. He then dropped them onto the floor and slammed the drawer shut, taking one of the two knives he had left out of his pants and advanced towards Brian.

"Hey, hey! What the hell are you doing?" Brian yelled with a glare and jumped back slightly in shock. Chris stared at him with a dark gaze, observing his friend's paling cheeks and throbbing neck.

Wasn't it obvious?

"Take it." He ordered shortly, eliciting a long silent stare from his friend.

"Take what?"

"The knife…take the knife." Chris repeated quickly, shaking the sharp object within his grasp. Brian swallowed hard and peered at the glinting blade, then pulled his vision towards Chris's trembling eyes which were circled with deep dark bags.

"Dude…how long have you been awake for?" He asked cautiously, watching the blonde hair shaking on his head, releasing beads of sweat down his glistening neck.

"Slept all night…" he replied dryly, still holding the blade out with a tight grip.

"Chris…you look terrible."

"Forgive me for saying this but we were pretty active last night." He answered, half blinking with a squint.

"All the more reason for you to have had a good sleep. You look like you haven't slept in days." Brian explained with a sincere tone of concern, but frowned when Chris suddenly lashed back with a hiss.

"Take the fucking knife!"

"Why?" Chester asked, keeping his voice calm and quiet. Perhaps this would calm Chris down a little, even though for the life of him he couldn't figure out why he was acting so bizarre. It was as if he were paranoid, searching the kitchen for some unknown force and arming himself for a battle that didn't exist. Perhaps this asylum and the death of his friends were starting to affect him mentally…and physically as well.

Brian knew Chris hadn't been receiving a good night's sleep from the moment they arrived but hadn't observed the full effect until now. Apparently his lack of sleep was finally catching up with his nerves and causing him to tremble with anxiety and panic.

"Take the knife…" he whispered under his breath and took a step forward, peering at Brian with a stone cold stare.

"Why do I need a knife Chris?" he asked again, watching a small smile spreading across the Canadian's lips.

"To kill the bastard…" he hissed, darting his eyes from wall to wall. Brian eyed him with intense curiosity, and then gave a small nod.

"Alright," he replied calmly. "Just slow down and think for a second-."

"No…no thinking! This piece of shit is here Brian…I can feel him. He's picking us off one by one. Its only a matter of time before he slices our heads off too. W-we have to kill him before he kills us!" Chris shouted suddenly, causing Brian to flinch at the unexpected outburst.

Why the hell was Chris acting like this?

It was as if he had suddenly become, dare he think it, insane. Something about this asylum was definitely changing him…but overnight? How is that possible? He was perfectly fine yesterday.

"Chris listen to me. Hunting him down is not essential right now. What we have to do is find Matt and Jeff-."

"What about Mark huh? Why only Matt and Jeff? Is there a reason why you didn't mention your dear old friend Mark? Or is it because you're the fucking bastard who killed him?" he growled, glaring slowly.

Brian gasped out in disbelief and shook his head. Chris was blaming him for the murders? Great…he really _was_ insane.

"I beg your pardon?" he demanded quickly.

"You killed him didn't you? First you sliced off Shawn's arm, then his head…and now Mark. Pretty soon you'll be after me…and Jeff and Matt! Well I'm not going to let that happen!" He yelled, advancing quickly towards Brian. Feeling a sharp pain on his cheekbone, Brian stumbled backwards and slammed into the fridge from the blow.

Blinking away his daze, he moved out of the way quickly enough to completely miss being stabbed in the neck by Chris who had, by hitting the fridge with the blade, clumsily dropped the knife onto the floor with a clang. Glaring, Brian swung his arms towards Chris and grabbed him by the shirt…then slammed him right in the side of the head with his elbow. Chris tumbled sideways and hit the counters with his ribs before dizzyingly falling to the floor unconscious.

Brian took in a few deep breaths, feeling his chest heaving hungrily for air as he stared down at the crumpled body on the floor. He soon bent down beside his best friend and slid the knife out from his pants and threw it across the room, hearing the metal smacking the cold floor. Brian shook his head and gave a sympathetic scowl before patting him on the shoulder gently in apology.

"Sorry Chris…" he whispered and stood up, eyeing the doors of the kitchen. He had to do it…he had to stop Chris from making a complete mistake. For some reason he had become irrationally panicked and paranoid, assuming Brian was the one killing his friends. Was this behaviour from lack of sleep…or something else?

Well in any case, he didn't really have time to find out since he decided to resume the search for Jeff and Matt, completely giving up on Mark. Deep down inside he knew that Mark hadn't made it. With one last glance towards Chris, he pushed himself out of the doors and made his way towards the lower level where Jeff and Matt had been designated to.

He was determined and desperate to find them…even if it killed him.

* * *

Even the pale morning sky could not brighten the dripping basement as Brian shuffled down the corridors cautiously. Aiming his flashlight before him, he eyed each intricate stone that had been grouted to the walls and took a second to stare at the tiny brown spots which had been sprayed across the grey. Were these spots due to artistic creativity or some horribly disturbing act of murder? Even in Brian's own hazel orbs, he recognized arterial spray now lining the moulding walls.

With all the blood spray and gravitational droplets covering the halls and flooring, this place would be a blood analyst's dream. He couldn't even begin to imagine what horrors took place down here but knew he didn't need a contrasted flashback to depict the tale. Continuing his journey down the long stretch of endless meandering corridors, he wiped the beads of sweat away from his brow and tried not to breath in the musty, suffocating air.

As he walked, he couldn't help but think of Chris who was now alone upstairs and unconscious. Feeling absolutely terrible for leaving him in that condition, he couldn't help his throat from aching with anxiety. Would Chris be the next victim? Would Brian be held responsible for his death? He still had to find Jeff and Matt yet he feared for Chris. This whole situation was just an unbearable nightmare in which he was desperate to wake up from and continue living a normal life, not having to worry about some psychotic killer roaming the halls.

With that thought still in mind, Brian found himself stopping in shock as a sudden pungent smell emanating from somewhere close began filling his nostrils, forcing him to hold back his vomit. Commanding his legs to continue moving despite the puke inducing scent, he found his way towards a massive metal door. Coughing, he realized that he knew that smell well. It was the same scent he had encountered when discovering Shawn's hacked body. It was the stench of rotten flesh and sewage smelling copper liquid.

It was a decomposing body. Squinting terribly, Brian observed a plaque nailed to the door and as he wiped off the accumulating dust, he read the word which sent shivers up his spine.

Morgue.

Swallowing hard, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it slowly, preparing himself for the massive odour protruding through the cracks. With a creak, he pushed open the heavy door, feeling the cold metal sliding against his palm while he walked into the dark room. Despite wanting his flashlight to give out, leaving him in the coldness of the dark, it did no such thing but instead illuminated the very horror he knew was coming.

Jeff's wide open eyes caused Brian to nearly smack the wall behind him in fright. He stared into the glassy abyss of death and tried to ignore the pieces of bone and flesh strewn about the walls, floors and ceiling. Finally as he knew they would, his legs became shaky and gave way to the sight before him, causing him to fall to the floor in a trembling heap. Tears rimmed his eyes as he stared at the deformed and mutilated figure up on the table. Jeff, one of his best friends…had been gutted and destroyed by the very being they were hiding from.

Gasping out a choke of sudden tears, Brian stared shakily at his arm still hanging off the side of the table. Narrow rivers of blood continued to stream down the arm, to the wrist and curl around to the top of his lifeless hand, and then dripped onto the floor like an echoing gong.

Brian closed his eyes and tried to calm his trembling breathing while pushing down the human instinct to freeze in fear. He needed to find Matt…he _had_ to find Matt. He could not allow this to happen again to any more of his friends. Just as he began to get a hold of himself, a muffled thump coursed through his ears, causing them to perk and his eyes to burst open. There was someone or something else in the room with him.

Feeling his heart stop, he strained his ears to figure out if he was just imagining things or if that sound was real. And sure enough a few moments later, he heard that same thump again…and it was coming from the autopsy drawers. Forcing his legs to comply with his wishes, he pulled himself up using the wall and shakily walked towards the freezing cabinets. He stood there for what seemed like a millennia, just watching and waiting for that sound to appear again.

Unfortunately the sound has ceased and he suddenly wondered if he was going insane as well. Figuring there was no harm in looking; he gripped the knob of the cabinet drawer and braced himself for what he might expect. More dead bodies? More mangled flesh? He shrugged at the thought and aimed his flashlight on the door…then pulled open the door with a slam, jumping slightly at the sound. Aiming the light down, he was quite surprised to see a dusty head of black long hair. He immediately recognized the black zip up hoodie and deep blue jeans…it was Matt. Gripping the metal slab by the grooves, he pulled it out and shone his flashlight down on the unmoving body of his friend.

"Matt." He breathed weakly in an attempt to wake him but knew that his voice would not work properly after seeing Jeff's mangled corpse.

"Matt man, wake up." He whined desperately, putting pressure on his chest with his knuckles. Immediately after doing this, Matt's eyes burst open revealing a frightened gaze of disturbed terror. He grabbed at Brian's arm and began scratching at him desperately, which of course was a survival instinct to fight against an unknown attacker.

"Matt calm down, its me." Brian stated a little louder than he had before and gripped his arm tightly in comfort. Matt coughed away the dust around him and continued to stare at him with wide eyes of terror. What he had experienced must have been absolutely horrific and devastating.

"Matt, listen to me. You have to calm down and focus. I know you're scared right now but we have to go back upstairs and get the hell out of here." Brian explained soothingly which seemed to have calmed his friend slightly because he had now stopped fighting against his grip and was staring at him quietly.

"You understand?" he asked sternly. Matt blinked hard and breathed out heavily, nodding with uncertainty while still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Okay…I'll help you up." Brian whispered and grabbed his arm, hoisting him to a sitting position on the slab. Matt squinted terribly and rubbed his head with pain, feeling a rising bump against his temple.

"He hit me."

Brian's ears perked at the rough voice and he frowned suddenly with interest.

"He hit you…who hit you?" he breathed quickly, forgetting completely that Matt had gone through something traumatic and probably wasn't up to answering twenty questions. The younger man stared into Brian's dark eyes and swallowed hard, then peered around the room in thought while trying to ignore Jeff's broken body.

"I-I don't know…I-I mean I don't remember…"

"You don't remember…okay, just take it easy." Brian whispered and helped him clumsily to his feet. The younger man gripped his friend tightly and walked him out of the morgue, turning their backs on the scene of death behind them.

"Okay come on, we have to hurry upstairs…" Brian explained quickly but suddenly felt Rob's weight drop to the side.

"N-no Bri…just wait. I-I need to rest for a second." Matt coughed and leaned against the stone cold wall beside him, all the while holding his bruised head with a frown. Brian breathed out softly and nodded with reluctance, understanding the pain Matt was going through.

"Alright…just let me know when you're good to continue." He replied compassionately. Matt gave a small nod and slowly slid to the damp floor, leaning up against the wall. Brian slunk down across from him and rubbed his weary eyes despite the long sleep he had had last night.

* * *

"It's strange…"

Brian looked up from the stony floor as Matt's quiet voice pinged against the puddles after over thirty minutes of shocked silence.

"What's strange?" Brian asked softly with interest.

Matt frowned in thought and pulled at the sleeves of his hoodie, all the while feeling his friend's intense gaze upon him. Would he think he was crazy? Perhaps Matt really was going insane and that sudden thought wasn't real…or maybe it was.

"Oh…nothing. I was just thinking…" he replied unsurely. Brian leaned back once again and raised a brow, wondering if Matt had remembered something from the attack. Perhaps the killer's face?

"Matt if you want to say something then say it. Otherwise keep your thoughts to yourself." He explained roughly with annoyance. If Matt knew something, why didn't he just tell him? He hated the fact that when people were nervous or scared about something, they'd hide it. With a sigh, he began.

"Matt what did you see?"

The older man flinched at Brian's voice and blinked quickly a few times before actually realizing he was speaking to him.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb alright? I know you saw or heard something back there and now you're not telling me what it was. We're friends remember? We're supposed to tell each other everyth-."

"–All I heard was Jeff's screams and the sound of crunching bones." Matt interrupted with a hoarse voice, still dry from being cooped up inside a frigid drawer for God knows how long. Brian immediately became silent as Matt's eyes became rimmed with burning tears.

"Brian why are you making me go through this again? Jeff's dead and all you can think about is that damn psycho! I don't remember anything alright? He must have smacked me upside the head and then I became unconscious. The last thing I remember is you pulling me out of that drawer…nothing else." His voice wavered with fright and sadness for his murdered brother and for this entire situation. It was hopeless…they were all going to die and just for some sick game.

"Matt I understand you're upset-."

"–No you don't! You don't understand!" Matt yelled and stood up, then began walking towards the end of the hall. Brian rolled his eyes and followed him quickly so he didn't lose him this time.

"Matt wait-."

"–I'm tired of talking about this. I just want to go upstairs and find a way out. Then I'm going to put this fucking place behind me and go home. Do you understand? Its over!"

Brian squinted as Matt's voice resonated off the walls and echoed throughout the corridor. He'd be surprised if the killer didn't know they were down here already.

"Matt I'm sorry."

"Yeah you can apologize all you want but that's not going to change the fact that two of my friends and my brother are dead."

Brian stopped walking and frowned in puzzlement at Matt's comment.

_Three?_

"Matt?"

"What!" He yelled and whirled around to face him. Brian squinted in thought while staring deeply into the younger man's frightened eyes.

"You…you said three?"

"Yes…what's your point?" The dark haired man asked with annoyance. Brian crossed his arms and stared into Matt's shaking eyes. He knew something…he definitely knew something.

"I thought only Shawn and Jeff were dead. You think Mark's dead too?"

Matt snorted at the question and shook his head.

"Hell I don't know, probably."

"Then if you don't know, why did you say three of your friends were dead instead of two?" Brian asked quietly.

Matt's dark gaze bore into him for several silent moments before suddenly glazing over with fear.

"He told us." He replied with nearly a whisper, trying to force the words from his mouth as if he didn't want to believe it himself.

"Who told you what?" Brian demanded loudly, determined to receive an answer this time. Matt ran his hands through his messed mat of hair and breathed out heavily at the memory.

"That psycho patient. He told me and Jeff about Mark…about how he had a good fighting chance." His eyes winced as he remembered the words spoken by the man…and remembered the pounding of his own heart as he listened to his gravely voice.

"It was as if he knew us all…personally." Brian's brow became furrowed as he listened to Matt and watched his distraught visage contorting into pain.

"Is that all you remember? I mean, did you see his face?"

"If I had seen his face then I would have told you what he looked like." Matt snarled suddenly and began walking again down the hall. Brian grinded his teeth with irritation and followed the older man whose pace was already quickening in an attempt to find the stairs. They walked together in silence, Matt slightly ahead but still close enough so that he did not lose Brian. Perhaps all Matt needed was a little time to get over what had happened, maybe start to remember more about the psycho patient, Brian thought as they finally made their way up the stony stairs towards the main level.

After a few more minutes, they reached the kitchen and quietly walked through the squeaking metal doors. Brian rubbed his head wearily and then proceeded to wipe the beads of sweat caused by anxiety from his brow. Matt looked around the kitchen slowly, observing each and every intricate tile and piece of mould on the walls.

"Bri?" he asked quietly, alerting the younger man instantaneously.

"Yeah."

"Where's Chris?"

Brian stopped rubbing his weak eyes suddenly and looked up, staring around the room with a frown.

"He was freaking out and becoming paranoid. He thought I was that piece of shit who's trying to kill us. Next thing I knew, he was attacking me so I knocked him unconscious right over th-."

Brian's heart stopped as he stared down at the floor where Chris had dropped only an hour ago. No body or form took up residence at that spot…just an empty space.

"Oh shit…" Brian mumbled, looking around frantically for his missing friend.

"Oh shit what? Where the hell is he Brian?" Matt demanded with a tone of warning. Brian froze in spot and stared at Matt with a menacing glare of worry.

"What the hell do you think 'oh shit' means?"

"You lost Chris?" He demanded with more anger than worry.

Brian rolled his eyes and brought a hand up to his head in thought. Could this day be any more stressful?

"I didn't lose him! I…uh-."

"–Left him up here by himself and unconscious."

"Well it's pretty safe to say he's fairly conscious right now." Brian replied with a short breath, staring down at the floor again.

"Yeah, why's that?" Matt asked with a deep frown.

"The knife's missing…and so is he."

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers: **_Tina, wrestlefan4, TVL, Animal Luvr 4 Life, Dark Kaneanite _**and **_X.Mayhem.X_

Loves ya!

Angel  
xxx


	12. Static Light

**I know that some of you won't be surprised to find out who the crazy assed patient is/was. **

**Chapter 12  
**_**Static Light**_

Glistening eyes jutted from left to right frantically in search of an unseen presence. His breathing quickened with his pace and the knife in his right hand trembled dangerously within his grasp. Beads of sweat began covering his brow and neck, causing his tanned skin to glisten as would a hunter's in search of his prey. With each step he took, a flashing of memories blinded him and caused him to stumble slightly. Blinking quickly, he could see Shawn's head snapping back revealing heavy amounts of blood to ripple down his chest and cover his lower body.

Another blink, another memory…this time more horrific. He squinted painfully as his own mind watched the crucifix end of a rosary being stabbed through a shaking hand, connecting with the wooden alter behind. Again, within the other palm another had been stabbed through causing blood to gush from the wound and the reddish brown beads from the rosary to dangle freely from the end.

An earth shattering scream rang through his head as he watched his own hands grab Mark's head and totally rip it from his neck, stopping the string of screams. Blinking once more, he witnessed the blinding white light from the flashlight shining against two shaking men, then faded to a mere dim burning red as blood began spraying all over the dusty old room, marking each wall and tile on the floor. He found himself staring into Jeff's wide open eyes of death with a mesmerized gaze, not able to fully comprehend what had happened. Before he even realized the flashbacks had ceased, he had stopped walking and was now leaning against a cold cement wall inside a dark, narrow looking corridor.

Chris tried to calm his breathing while giving heavy blinks of fatigue, knowing full well that he hadn't slept at all since they had all arrived here. He had always closed his eyes to sleep but never actually remembered dreaming about anything. The next morning he'd wake up feeling even more tired than he had when he had closed his eyes the previous night. He just couldn't help but feel that something or someone was keeping him awake every night even though he had no recollection of being awake.

His nights were filled with dark voids and blank memories, all of which were now starting to affect him. He was paranoid, having waking nightmares about his friend's deaths and couldn't stop his heart from racing with an incomprehensible fear. Swallowing hard, he peered down the corridor and slowly began to notice several closed metal doors on either side of the hall. Perhaps these were offices? Chris gripped the wall shakily and began moving himself in the direction of those offices.

There was no reason for his actions…just that for some reason he felt drawn down the hall, specifically towards the last door to the right. Taking clumsy steps, he peered through the darkness and stopped at that metal door, staring at it with a glaze within his eyes. This door felt important to him…now the question became: What is behind the door? Grabbing the cold knob, he twisted it with almost the instinctive knowledge that it was unlocked and shuffled inside, closing the door behind him.

The room was indeed as he would have expected, a dusty barren looking office with one wooden desk with many shelves surrounding it. It was not a large room and could barely fit the massive shelves which were loaded with reels of tape and various folders. Armed with a flashlight, he put down the knife onto the rotting desk and held out his light towards the shelves, eyeing each label on the edge.

With each pass of the eye, he read the labels: PATIENTS 01-50, 51-100, 101-150, and 151-203.

Squinting through the blinding dust, Chris moved his fingers along the fragile folders until he came to one which was stuffed in between two reels of tape. He then pulled out the manila folder and shone the light onto the identification sticker. It was difficult to read on account of the blood stains and accumulating dirt from the shelf but he was able to make out a few numbers.

203.

It was the last folder on the shelf and for some reason it had been hidden between two reels of tape while covered in blood stains.

Chris blinked away the dust and set the folder on the desk, then reached for the first reel of tape.

Pulling it out, he examined the exterior which read: PATIENT 203, ROOM 203, PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION.

Setting the reel on the desk along with the folder, he continued to rummage through the shelf until he found what he was apparently looking for. At the back of the shelf, stood an old VHS tape which had over the years collected several cobwebs. Flinging them away, Chris pulled out the tape and stared at the label, which read the same thing as the reel. Perhaps they had filmed the psychiatric evaluation along with the sound recording. Chris frowned with confusion, wondering why he had suddenly had this urge to find this tape and folder.

Was there something important he needed to see?

The only way he was going to see this tape, however was if he had a television and a VCR. Bending down, he opened the cabinets and fumbled through papers and boxes until finally he found what he was looking for. Before him stood a small portable black and white television with a built in VCR. Chris's eyes glinted with interest as he pulled the television out from the cabinet and placed it gently onto the desk. Now to see if it actually worked. Chris then turned it around and popped open a small compartment and noticed that two out of the four batteries were missing.

Rolling his eyes, he smacked open the bottom of his flashlight and pulled out two batteries (all the while hoping they'd still work in this television) and placed the back compartment of the television back into place. Chris walked around to the other side of the desk and sat down slowly onto the creaky leather chair, then pressed the power button. He was amazed to find that not only did the television work, but so did the sound. He peered into the gravely static of lines within the screen and reached for the tape, pushing it into the VCR.

* * *

"Dammit, where the hell could he have gone?" Brian mumbled angrily to himself as he and Matt began the search for their friend.

"Well Brian, if you hadn't of beat him unconscious none of this would have happened." The taller man replied with as much irritation in his voice that he could force out.

"He was supposed to be unconscious, not running around the fucking asylum for God knows what! And besides, in my defence he thought I was that freaky ass patient." Brian explained hastily while stepping over cracked flooring and through low hanging cobwebs.

Matt rolled his eyes and shook his head at his friend. Leave it to Brian to find some sort of excuse for kicking Chris's ass.

" You two have been going at it since the day we got here and you expect me to believe you didn't hurt him on purpose? Jesus Christ man, how do I know you aren't actually that homicidal freak?" He demanded quietly with a hiss to his tone. Brian stopped and turned around, causing Matt to freeze on spot.

There was a dark glint within the young man's eyes that Matt had never seen before. Perhaps he had struck a nerve.

"Now you listen to me," he began with a low tone, staring into Matt's soul with a deep glare.

"Chris is missing and you're accusing me of being a murderer? How could I have gone downstairs into the basement and killed Jeff if I was up here with Chris the whole fucking time?"

"How do I know you're not lying to me?" Matt demanded in defence.

"Trust me man, we were up here…together…all night."

"Do you know that for sure?"

"Yes dammit because we were-."

Brian stopped himself and closed his mouth, looking away from Matt who was now staring at him with an expectant shimmer in his eyes.

"You were…what?" He asked quietly, lowering his head in question. Brian bit his lip and shrugged, then peered down at his flashlight in thought.

"Nothing…never mind."

"Never mind? I need proof and so far you're not coughing up your alibi." Matt explained with a deepening frown.

"Look!" Brian shouted with irritation. " I had fallen in a puddle and I was _cold_ okay? Chris had this crazy idea of how to warm me up…and let me tell you, it worked." He explained with a shaky voice. Matt raised a brow and crossed his arms, waiting for Chester to say something else…but it never came.

"That's it?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"That's all you need to know anyway." Brian replied with a mumble.

"Well Brian, how the hell did he warm you up if we have no blankets, heating pads or-."

Matt stopped suddenly with wide eyes and Brian swallowed hard.

"Please tell me it's not what I think it is."

"We fucked okay, happy?" Brian growled with lowered eyes.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Matt shouted, causing Brian to clasp a hand over his big fat mouth.

"Would you shut the fuck up! Yes it happened! And if you ever mention it again I will have to hurt you. Understand?" he demanded angrily. Matt stared at him silently as he slowly lowered his hand from his mouth and straightened out the sleeves on his shirt with a rough movement.

"Are we going to look for Chris or not?" Brian demanded, raising his flashlight towards Matt's face.

"Fine." He muttered in defeat and followed Brian down the corridor. They kept silent for a good twenty five minutes until Matt could no longer keep his lips tightly shut.

"Was it any good?"

Brian rolled his eyes and turned his head to look at Matt…then looked past him at something more interesting. Down the hall to his right was a long dark corridor lined with offices…and one of the doors were open. Not only that…there was a beam of light creeping out into the hall, shimmering and flickering like static.

"Hey check it out." The younger man whispered and turned off his flashlight. Matt looked in the direction of Brian's vision and peered at the flickering light coming from the last office to the right. They both shared a glance of worry and fear as well as interest, then silently agreed to investigate. Taking light steps to insure their silence, they walked towards the burning white light and stopped near the door.

Brian raised his hand, signalling for Matt to stay behind him and took a side step towards the door. Slowly, he turned his head into the opening and peered around the empty room, watching a tiny television on the desk emitting bright beams of light, covering the walls behind the chair with a ghostly shadow.

"Come on." Brian whispered and motioned for Matt to follow him in. Taking an uneasy breath, Brian and Matt both walked behind the desk and stood near the chair, watching the flickering screen. Matt frowned as he noticed the red light flashing on the VCR and he glanced at Brian with a sigh.

"Someone's been watching a movie." He warned with a whisper.

Brian returned the grave frown and pushed the play button. The static ceased and the screen became dark blue, then silence rang in their ears. Brian pressed the rewind button and waited a few moments before finally stopping. With an uneasy sigh, he glanced at the folder to his right, still lying on the desk and read the identification number.

"Remember the article about the psycho patient? He was in room 203…this must be the same guy." He whispered.

Matt nodded with agreement and shivered slightly.

"So you think Chris watched the tape and he knows who the killer is?"

"Possibly…" Brian replied with a nod and pressed play. They both stared at the screen intently, waiting and watching for the boy's face. Soon, an image appeared…an image of an interrogation room. Inside that room stood a long metal table and two people, each on either side. The lamp at the side of the table flickered and buzzed as they watched what seemed to be the psychiatrist eyeing it nervously. On the opposite side of the table, a young sixteen year old boy sat…his arms and feet restrained to the chair.

His face was slightly blurred by the camera and grainy from terrible resolution. What made things worse however is that he was sitting among the shadows, staring at the doctor with shaded eyes. Brian squinted and leaned forward a little more in order to see the child's face but it was of no use.

"Fucking cameras from the fucking 80's. They were such pieces of shit-."

"Shh!" Matt commanded with irritation and glared at Brian who lowered his eyes.

Silently they continued to watch the film, trying their best to figure out who the child was. Because of the static sounds in the background, it was difficult to make out what the doctor was saying…and which name he had just called out to the patient. But even though the sound quality was not that good, they could still hear the spine tingling voice of that dark person in the shadows. There was no mistaking it…it sounded evil.

"_He wishes not to speak with you."_

Brian swallowed hard and blinked at the bright light emanating from the screen then watched the lamp continue to flicker gently.

"_If he does not wish to speak with me, then let _him_ tell me."_

"_You know I cannot allow that to happen Doctor."_

"_Let me speak to him once…I want to see if he is alright."_

"_He is comfortable…"_

"_Let me speak to him."_

"_Tell me Doctor…"_

Before the boy continued, they could hear the deep wheezing followed by a deep growl emanating from his throat. Matt and Brian both instantly knew that something terrible was about to happen to that psychiatrist. Looking up at the camera, the boy gave a malevolent smile as if he were watching the two spectators outside the television and never once blinked.

"_Do you like the dark?"_

Brian's eyes grew wide as well as Matt's as they watched the boy lean forward from the dark into the light which was now flickering dangerously. And then…the tape stopped and static once again filled their ears. Brian looked up from the TV and instantly shivered with fear while Matt clasped a hand to his own mouth in shock.

They couldn't believe it yet they saw him with their own eyes…and he was somewhere in this asylum, roaming around God knows where.

"It's Chris." Brian whispered, peering around the room with a blank stare. All those times…all his friends…it all made sense. The lack of sleep, the changing of positions in the morning, the knowledge of how to arrive at this place. Why Chris had no knowledge of all of this was beyond him but it was a safe bet he knew now. The only question became…where they still safe?

"We need to find him, now." Brian stated suddenly and grabbed the flashlight with a tight grip. Matt frowned and shook his head, breathing out heavily.

"Brian…what if that…that evil thing inside him isn't dormant anymore? What if he's looking for us?"

"It's a safe bet that's exactly what's happening. Now that Chris knows about it, he may be able to stop that thing from killing us."

"So you're saying Chris knows he's not alone in his own thoughts?" Matt asked as he followed Brian into the hall. Brian stopped walking and turned around, staring at Matt with a grave look. Before he could answer, he froze in spot and his throat closed with fear.

Matt turned around and stared into the darkness of the corridor, watching the approaching shadow.

Feeling their breath hitching in terror, they watched the whites of the shadow's eyes glinting malevolently through the darkness.

* * *

**Next chapter will be up later :- )**

**Loves ya**

**Angel  
xxx**


	13. Animal I Have Become

**I've used the C word in this chapter, just thought I would warn you. It may be used a couple of times in the next few chapters too.**

**Chapter 13  
**_**Animal I Have Become**_

Taking a few slow steps backwards, Matt and Brian gripped the wall tightly while Chris proceeded into the light still flickering from the television in the next room.

Brian swallowed hard as he peered into Chris's blue orbs, reflecting the shimmering light. The deep glare alone was enough to make them both shiver uncontrollably in terror. This creature was not their best friend.

"H-hey Chris…" Brian managed to cough out casually, hoping that somehow Chris didn't know they had watched the film. He stared at them silently, observing their shaking bodies and the fact that they were trying to hide it. It would all be useless in the end.

"We've been looking for you." He continued, smoothening out his trembling voice. Chris took a quick glance at Matt and smirked in the darkness.

"Looks like you're two for two then." He replied, referring to the fact that Brian had found Matt as well. Brian frowned slightly at his response. He sounded perfectly normal, relieved even that Matt had been found. Despite the frighteningly low glare, his eye movements, tiny smirk and nodding of the head were all Chris's signatures, making it increasingly difficult for them to establish who exactly they were speaking with. Perhaps the darker personality was still submerged within his own consciousness and Chris was just well…pissed that Brian had knocked him unconscious.

"Two for two…right." Brian breathed, giving Matt a worried glance. He still wasn't too sure about Chris and neither was Matt. Chris glanced into the office at the shimmering television and gave a slow blink, then turned his vision back towards his friends.

"Watching a movie?" he asked casually, staring into each of their shaking eyes. Brian felt his cheeks grow warm and his heart begin to pound as he watched the amused smile beginning to twitch against Chris's lips. Matt cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair, staring down at the floor.

"Nah, we were just taking a look around the office. Hard to believe people worked with all that mess and clutter. We saw the TV on and figured it was probably broken and well, here we are." He explained, smiling a little in order to keep his nerves at bay.

Chris lowered his eyes and nodded, then looked back at Brian with a growing darkness. It was evident that he was in fact pretty pissed about something.

"You know Chris," Brian began, hearing his clear voice resonating off the concrete walls around them." You seem pretty calm right now as opposed to this morning. You had quite the anxiety attack while we were in the kitchen. Feeling alright?" he asked suspiciously. Chris cocked his head with interest at his words, then slowly began walking towards the two men while never once taking his eyes off of them.

"Oh I'm feeling much better. I probably just had a nightmare…you know, lack of sleep and such. It feels great to know I have such a concerned fr-."

Stopping right in mid-sentence, Chris raised his arms and with an inhuman rapidity and struck them both hard in the face, using his fists with two swift movements. Matt and Brian hadn't even seen it coming and suddenly fell to the floor unconscious, hitting their heads against the damp stone. Chris leaned up from the attacking position and took in a deep breath while tightening his jaw with agitation.

These two were definitely going to be difficult…and he was definitely going to have a lot of fun.

* * *

Blinding orange and yellow lights flickered within his line of sight, causing his head to throb painfully. The discomfort elicited a small moan from his cracked lips and he blinked slowly through the haziness around him. He felt as if he had been run over by a semi…or perhaps someone had dropped a house against his chest. Opening his eyes a little more, he squinted and followed the flickering lights as they slowly stopped spinning around him and came to rest on the floor in front of him.

He peered into the candle light and swallowed hard, feeling how dry his throat was and observing the intricate circle the candles had been placed in. He was back in the kitchen…and he was not alone.

"Mornin' sunshine."

Brian looked up from the candles and watched as Chris…or whoever he was came out from behind the counters and walked towards the candle lit circle, holding a long edged knife within his grasp. Glaring, the younger man suddenly realized that he had been tied up. His wrists had been bound by painfully rough rope at his front and his legs had been tied together and brought to his chest. Wanting so badly to just jump up and attempt to crawl out of the room out of instinct, he found that he was completely immobile by the searing pain now seeping up his spine.

"W-what the hell did you d-do to me?" He breathed shakily, staring at the creature before him. Chris sat down on a small stool beside the candle lit circle and gave a small smile of amusement. Seeing Brian in complete and utter pain was definitely something he could get used to. The firelight began creating angry shadows against his perfectly bronze skin and created the illusion of some twisted glare of insanity.

Even as Brian squinted a little more, he could make out tiny specks of black within the usually bright blue crystals of his eyes.

"Aw is Brian feeling slightly uncomfortable?" he pouted, watching Brian's brow beginning to lower angrily.

"Slightly is a fucking understatement. What the HELL did you do to me?" he demanded once more. Chris leaned forward on his stool and leaned his elbows against his knees, twisting the knife slowly so that the firelight glinted off the blade menacingly.

"I made sure your spine was bruised…just enough so that you'd be in pain every time you'd try to hop your way out of here." He explained calmly, eyeing the sharp blade with adoration. Brian sighed under his breath and winced, attempting to move himself into a more comfortable sitting position. Looking around the room, he suddenly felt a ping of anxiety and fear stab at his heart and quickly looked back at the man holding the knife.

"W-where's Matt?" he demanded with a trembling voice. Chris slowly smiled while peering at him with an animalistic danger glinting within his eyes. It was as if he were observing his prey and imagining the hunt; feeling the small creature's rapid heart beat and shaking limbs…almost sensing his trembling breath against his skin. He was scared…and it was perfect.

"I knew you'd be asking that. They've all asked that same question before I sliced their perfect flesh open. You people are all so concerned about each other that you never take the time, not once, to worry about yourselves. Well hell, that's just heroic! With you two, it would have been one hell of a party…too bad I'm not much of a party goer." He explained, growling out the last words with hatred.

"You killed him." Brian whispered with wide eyes, feeling his hands beginning to shake. Chris rolled his eyes and gave out a heavy sigh of irritation and annoyance.

"You must be either extremely hard at hearing or you're a fucking moron. Not once did I say I killed him."

"Then where the hell is he?"

"In a safe place."

"Safe as in 'found a way out and is now getting the police' or safe as in 'you tied him up in a room full of knifes protruding through the walls and if he moves he'll be gutted like a fish'?" Brian asked quickly.

Chris squinted in thought and gave a small chuckle, then nodded.

"Room full of knives…now why didn't I think of that? Oh…because that's a waste of my fucking time! No, I didn't use my wonderful imagination to create a horrific, disturbing murder for young Matt. Like I said, he's in a safe place."

"Define safe." Brian demanded with anger, feeling somewhat trusting that Matt hadn't been murdered…although he didn't know why.

"Safe…unharmed…breathing." Chris replied flatly, as if the answer were obvious.

Brian stared at him in silence for a long moment, observing his flickering blue/black eyes and wondered how such a colour existed. Perhaps there really was something evil within him. He gave a heavy sigh and quickly gave up on asking about Matt. He had made it quite clear that he was safe and that this conversation was not going to continue. He then moved his vision towards the circle of candles and frowned.

"Is that the magic circle where you're going to chant to Satan until your eyes grow white and glossy?" he asked.

Chris glanced at the ring of firelight and frowned, then looked back at Brian.

"No…I just thought this place could use a little lighting. It's a nice little glow…kinda cosy, don't you think?" he replied lightly. Brian lowered his eyes and bit his lip painfully as he suddenly became aware of the loss of circulation in his wrists.

"Next question." He stated, attempting to loosen the binds just a little so the blood could get through to his fingers.

"Shoot."

"Where the hell is Chris?"

The soft candle light danced among the shadows of the Canadian's face and sparkled within the blue haziness of his eyes. He remained silent for several moments, almost in deep thought and then lowered his amused smile.

"I am Chris."

"The hell you are." Brian spat with disgust.

"Do you enjoy Hell because you seem to be using that word an awful lot tonight." Chris explained with a furrowed brow.

"Maybe it's just the atmosphere in here." The younger man hissed in response. Chris nodded and stood up, then slowly began pacing in front of Brian.

"Alright, you seem reluctant to leave that subject alone so I guess I have no choice but to explain." He muttered.

"I really wish you would." Brian replied with narrow eyes gleaming into the taller man. Chris glanced down at him and glared in thought before proceeding.

"Okay, look…I'm only going to explain this once. I am not some demon possessing this body, I'm not some angry spirit clinging onto his soul and I am definitely not in any way, shape or form the devil so lets just end those theories right now shall we?"

Brian remained silent as Chris tapped the end of the blade against his hand casually while taking a short pause to compose his thoughts.

"Believe it or not, I _am _Chris…just not the Chris you know and trust as your friend. I am what some people would call an alter ego. I'm a…different side of him-."

"–A split personality."

Chris glared at him for a long moment and sighed out with a small growl.

"Excuse me, I'm the one telling the story here, not you so shut your fucking mouth."

Brian sunk back against the wall and frowned, then became silent once again.

"Jesus you people…anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I'm a different side of him. If I had a body part for every time I heard someone refer to me as being a split personality, I could build a fucking body."

"There is a common misconception between alter egos and split personalities. I am not a different person than Chris…I'm a different side. I have the same personality, it's just…darker. Chris is like an innocent child trapped within his own hatred and violence-."

"–Okay wait I have to stop you there." Brian stated, feeling slightly guilty that he had interrupted him again.

"What now?" Chris demanded impatiently.

"You refer to him as Chris. Why not just say 'I' or 'me'? You say you're Chris yet you refer to him as a different person. That in my book classifies as a split personality." Brian explained slowly with confusion.

The Canadian rubbed between his eyes and sighed out loudly, this time keeping his patience at bay.

"L-look, you're obviously not going to understand this. Yes, it may seem similar to a split personality but I can assure you we are the same person. I refer to him as Chris because he's the innocent side and I am the violent side. Think of it as two parts of one brain. One side is good, the other evil…but both make up the entire brain. Split personality would be two different brains inside the same entity…shit never mind, it's all too complicated."

"Alter ego, fine I get it. Chris is innocent…you're a violent psychotic murderer. Just out of curiosity though, should I even be calling you Chris or would you prefer to be called something else?" Brian asked with a frown.

"Brian you can call me whatever the fuck you want." He replied with an audible stress to his voice.

"Sadistic Cunt it is then." He answered with a raised brow.

Chris glared at him

"Now that our little conversation is over…I'm going to take pleasure in making you writhe with pain." He whispered in a deep tone, causing shivers to crawl up Brian's spine, tingling the hairs on the back of his neck.

"Why don't you just kill me now and get it over with?" The hazel eyed man replied nervously as Chris's face neared his own. His now deepening blue eyes searched Brian's soft rosy cheeks as he leaned the cold blade against his skin, watching him in awe as he twitched at the sensation. He then pulled the blade slowly across his cheek and smiled distantly as Brian winced and whimpered beneath the sharp pain now stinging his face.

"Because you're the one I've been waiting for…the one I've been wanting to torture. And the best part about all of this is that we have an audience." He whispered, stinging the oozing bloody laceration with his hot breath. Brian glared silently with confusion until suddenly he saw the old video recorder sitting on top of the counter to his left.

The red recording light seemed to approach him slowly until all he could see was the burning realization of who was watching them.

"Matt…" he whispered.

"That's right…he's watching us right now. Granted he's tied to a chair inside a locked office with the television, but at least he'll be seeing a good show." Chris whispered with a low growl.

"You sick bastard." Brian whimpered shakily, feeling the anger bubbling throughout his body like a billowing fire.

"I told you he was safe. I'll be far too busy in here with you to be sawing off his head. Too bad the others won't be able to witness what I have in store for you. It's a damn shame they got in my way."

"So all of this…all these murders…all this hell. It was all to get to me so you could torture me for your own pleasure?" Brian whispered, slowly realizing his fate.

"What can I say? You're strong…you'll last a fairly long time. Besides, it will be quite the rush for both of us." Chris smiled, stroking his cheek gently and smearing the blood.

"If y-you think I'm going to get off on this, you are sadly mistaken you disgusting piece of shit." He spat back, turning his head away from him with a sharp movement.

"We'll see…" he whispered back with a deep hiss to his tone.

Meanwhile, through the darkened silence of the corridors and into the pitch black office, Matt stared into the TV with wide eyes filled with tears now streaming down his cheeks.

He attempted to pull at the rope which was tied around his wrists, connecting them around the back of the chair painfully. After struggling for several minutes, he finally gave up and choked out a sob through the gag that had been stuffed into his mouth and tied around the back of his neck.

It was hopeless…Brian was alone with that maniac and there was nothing he could do but sit there silently and watch…

* * *

**Thanks to my lovely reviewers:** _Tina, PunkRockDiva, x.Mayhem.x, Animal Luvr 4 Life, wrestlefan4_ **and** _TVL._

_I'll have the next chapter up shortly (after I've had my dinner :-p)._

_Loves ya!_

_Angel  
xxx_


	14. Turn The Page

**I've used the C word again. Hope you don't mind.**

**Chapter 14  
**_**Turn the Page**_

Silence became a constant companion as Matt stared into the ghostly images before him, emanating from the fuzzy black and white television. For three hours he had watched in horror as the flickering images became darker and darker while the candlelight faded.

So far, that beast had done nothing extraordinarily violent towards Brian aside from kicking him a few times in the face. Matt figured Brian had probably said some smart ass comment and had managed to not only anger his captor but provoke him as well. It seemed that creature was becoming more agitated as the night grew thick around the asylum and it was only a matter of time before things really became dangerous.

The only thing that irritated and annoyed Matt the most was the fact that this television was not receiving sound, therefore assumed that Chris had switched off the microphone. After a few more hours of silent dread, Matt began to notice how shaky Chris was becoming.

It was as if he were attempting to hold his patience, perhaps trying to frighten Brian to the point of breakdown. Either that or Brian was being a dickhead just enough so that his captor would end it instead of putting him through hours of terrible pain and suffering. Matt had to hand it to the cocky cunt…he could really push Chris's buttons, evil or not. Looking around the room, Matt attempted to loosen the restraints which were binding his arms around the back of the leather chair. If he was going to help Brian, he'd have to find a way to free himself before all hell broke loose.

He was thankful though, that he had managed to push the gag out of his mouth with an expert move of his tongue. Licking his dry, cracked lips, he gave a trembling sigh and glanced at the screen so that he knew what was going on in the kitchen at all times. As of now, Chris was just sitting on the stool before Brian unmoving…both of them staring at each other as if looking away would end the world.

"Okay Matt…think." He whispered to himself.

There had to be a way to get these binds to loosen. Oh if only he had a knife…or super human strength. As if, right? Even though he may have been quite strong, there was no way he was going to rip the rope from his wrists.

"Time to think logically," He began with a short breath, eyeing the dark room intently.

"Tightly bound wrists…rough rope…no knife." It all seemed hopeless.

"Great…I'm stuck in here for fucking EVER!" He sighed out helplessly, leaning his head back against the chair.

* * *

The light flickering of the candlelight bounced off the walls, sending dark shadows across Brian's face. Two hours…two hours of just staring. If this was torture, then Chris knew his prey well. If there was one thing Brian hated, it was waiting and watching. Leaning his head forward from the wall, Brian peered into Chris's ghoulish blue/black eyes and gave a deep penetrating glare. Oh how he hated those judging, angry eyes. They were sinister and dark, yet terrifyingly bright.

Again, for the third time tonight, Brian began wondering if Chris had been telling the truth this whole time. What alter ego can just change eye colour? If he was Chris…or rather another side of Chris then wouldn't his appearance remain the same? Something wasn't quite right with this whole picture and that alone was enough to get Brian itching for answers.

"So how long are we going to play the staring game?" The younger man asked loudly after a while. Chris continued staring at him in deafening silence, just watching. He couldn't help though to smirk at Brian's annoyed tone.

"Talking is your best asset, yet you can't say one fucking word to me? This is just great huh? So I'm guessing that my torture is going to be staring at you for God knows how long until eventually I go inane from the lack of communication. Very well thought out plan…its pure fucking genius." Brian snarled at him, waiting for a response that he knew wasn't coming.

Chris didn't move one muscle as the young man squirmed uncomfortably against the wall and sighed out with pain…the pain which was still seeping up his spine, debilitating him from movement.

"Ugh I'm so bored! At least rape me or something!" He shouted, eyeing him desperately. Chris cocked his head and blinked twice, observing the little human and his pitiful attempt to receive acknowledgment. He knew the silence was killing Brian…which made it all that more fun.

"If you don't start talking…and I have to sit here like this for five million more years, I'm going to start singing at the top of my lungs…out of tune."

Again, Chris just peered into his eyes with burning silence; his soft pink lips remaining frozen together. Brian rolled his eyes and shook his head, sighing out loudly in frustration.

"Just so you know, the good Chris was a lot more fun to talk to. At least he'd join in on conversations. Oh but now I see…this is supposed to be my torture. Well sorry to disappoint you but I can go on like this forever."

"Just because I'm bored, doesn't mean I'm giving into your little game. For someone as imaginative and creatively disturbed as you, you should be able to find something a little more painful for me to go through. After all, that's the point of tying me up here isn't it?"

Just as he had done before, Chris remained wordless to Brian's constant yammering. The smaller continued to eye him curiously with suspicion as his mind became flooded with thoughts of how Chris could have let this happen to himself. Not that he was blaming him or anything…but he must have remembered killing his best friends. If not, perhaps he had had nightmares about it. All things considered, he hoped that Chris was still somewhere within his own violence and hate…trying to break free.

Even though the silence was unsettling, the mere thought of Chris having an alter ego was slightly disturbing as well. It just didn't make sense. Chris would never kill his friends, and he had never been a violent person. How could such a calm, quiet person become such an evil beast?

" What's the matter Brian? Finally swallow your tongue?" Chris asked quietly, peering into Brian's hazel orbs of confusion.

" It speaks." He snapped back furiously.

" I noticed you looked like you had something on your mind. Feel like sharing?" He asked with a small growing smirk. Brian swallowed hard and bit his chapped lips. He then remembered the tape and what the doctor had said to him when he was a boy.

All the questions…it seemed that the doctor believed he had had split personality.

Why was Chris trying to convince him otherwise? Now who shall he believe…a psychiatrist with a degree in psychology or an evil son of a bitch with no regard to human life?

Tough choice.

" Let me speak with Chris."

The creature lowered his amused eyes as his smile slowly diminished. Finally, Brian was getting somewhere with him.

" Excuse me?" he demanded with a quiet tone.

" Let me speak with Chris." Brian repeated anxiously, watching his blue eyes shimmer in the candle light. A soft blink, a twitch in the corner of the lips…a tightening jaw. He was definitely hiding something.

" I am Chris." He replied with a shaky voice, then cleared his throat so that Brian wouldn't notice. Of course he did, and now his curiosity and suspicion took over.

" Nope, see that's where I'm having a little problem. I watched the tape…I heard the questions the doctor asked you. Now he knew that you were not that sixteen year old boy. You were something else…something evil. You're not Chris."

Chris stood up, finally after four hours and slowly walked towards him with a deepening glare.

" And you would know huh?"

" I know my friend, violent or not and you are not him." Brian replied defiantly. The creature peered down at him, burning him with his gaze. The little smart ass was in fact smart…but not smart enough.

* * *

" Think dammit, think. Rope, chair…TV…ugh!" Matt leaned forward helplessly and shook his head. He had been at it for hours, trying to think of a way to get out of the room. So far he had come up with nothing and the more he glanced at the TV, the more anxious and frightened he became. If he couldn't get to Brian in time, he'd be killed…and then when Brian was dead, he'd be next.

" This is the last photo shoot I go on." He grumbled to himself, then suddenly heard a small buzz and a sharp crack. Turning his vision towards the television, he noticed that it was flickering in and out between static and a clean image. Great…the reception was dying. The next thing he noticed, which in turn made his eyes grow wider, was the fact that Chris was advancing on Brian with a knife clutched tightly within his right hand.

" Oh dammit." Matt sighed out suddenly while the television continued flickering away from the horrifying image. Brian must have pissed him off again…and now he was going to die because of it.

" Brian you ass." He muttered. Of course tonight was not Matt's lucky night and the television reception ended, leaving him staring into a void of painfully bright static.

" Well, this night just keeps getting better and better." He whispered sharply with anger and stopped pulling at the restraints. Alright, he now had two options: Sit quietly and wait for his own death or…stare at the desk and wait for his own death.

Matt closed his eyes tightly and gave a heavy sigh of hopelessness. He couldn't help but feel like a caged animal with nothing left but his own sanity…which was slowly deteriorating.

He had no idea what was going on with Brian and that alone was driving him into a temporary insanity. A frown soon adorned his perspiring brow as he slowly realized that his wrists had not been tied to the chair but rather around the chair.

" Come on Matt." He swore at himself and carefully stood up, making sure he didn't pull anything in the process. It was a difficult manoeuvre but he had successfully managed to rid himself of the evil leather chair that had been sticking to his skin like burning rubber. With his wrists still bound, he marched towards the door and stared at it. It had been closed and there was probably no way he would be able to get out.

Unless of course Chris was an idiot and forgot to lock the door. Hesitantly, Matt reached for the old knob and turned it with both hands…then closed his eyes as the relief bubbled through his body like a warm blanket.

" Thank God he's an idiot." He whispered and opened the door. With the excitement and anxiety of getting Brian alone in a room, he had tied Matt around the chair and completely forgot to lock the door.

* * *

" Touch me with that fucking knife and I swear to God I will make sure you never Lionsault again." Brian hissed menacingly towards his attacker who was standing over him with a sideways smirk of amusement. He finally had his restless prey…and it was time to fight.

And oh this was to be a fun fight.

" What are you going to do, break my legs? Well guess what? You're tied up." Chris growled back, then slowly crouched down in front of him. Brian nodded a little and cocked his head.

" Yeah, you're right. But gee guess what? _My_ legs aren't fucking broken." Chris's eyes widened as Brian suddenly lashed his bound legs out and kicked him right in the jaw, sending him falling backwards.

" You son of a bitch." Chris growled and wiped the blood from his lips, revealing the now swollen jaw. Clutching the knife, he watched with predatory eyes as Brian attempted to crawl away towards the door. It was a very pitiful attempt to get away and it sent a shiver of laughter to vibrate throughout Chris's chest. He then stood up and kicked Brian hard in the back, causing a loud yelp of pain to escape the younger man's throat.

Chris bent down and grabbed Brian by the shirt, then flung him away from the door thus resulting in his fragile body to hit the stainless steel counters. Brian groaned helplessly as his head throbbed as well as his neck. He peered up into those strangely dark eyes of what used to be his friend and swallowed the lump of fear.

Chris stared down at the shivering creature and gave a smirk of anticipation because both of them knew very well that someone was about to die. A hard kick in the side of the face caused Brian to freeze with intense agony; feeling the blood beginning to seep between his teeth and over his tongue towards his cracked lips.

Chris pressed his foot down against Brian's chest, which elicited a deep cry of pain and blood to spurt from his lips. The creature raised the knife over his heart and took a few deep breaths of excitement; his dark blue eyes blazing with insane fury.

" Well Bri…you're about to die. Any last words?" he asked with a growing smile. Brian glared up at him and coughed a small dribble of blood from his throat.

" Y-yeah…look behind you."

Chris frowned and snapped around only to receive a painfully hard punch to the face with two fists. Stumbling off to the side, he dropped the knife and shook out the throbbing cheek which was making his eyes water. Matt stared at him; sweat dripping from his hair and a tear stained face…tears which only flowed hours ago and had ceased.

No, he would no longer sit and watch as this 'thing' killed his friend. He was damn angry…and it was going to end.

" Remember me, bitch?" he snarled, watching Chris's eyes narrow furiously. Matt lowered his eyes and kicked him hard between the legs, sending him tumbling to the floor with a loud thud and a pitiful gasp. Brian raised a brow and sat up slowly, glancing down at the shivering creature and then back up at Matt.

" Nuts…nice."

" He may be a sick twisted psycho but he's still a man." Matt spat and picked up the knife. Glancing at Chris, he quickly bent down and sawed the ropes off of Brian's wrists and legs. Brian in turn untied Matt and with the help of his friend, stood up and dusted off his jeans.

" You alright?" Matt asked with soft concern…concern which he hadn't possessed while taking down a psycho killer. Brian cocked his head and cracked his neck painfully, then looked down at the growling creature on the floor.

" I'll be fine…question is; will Chris." Matt grabbed the remainder of the rope and held it over Chris, then looked back at Brian.

" Let's find out."

* * *

After tying Chris up and leaning him against the wall in a comfortable sitting position, Brian explained everything to Matt that had happened while he was confined in the room with the television. It was a little difficult to understand and extremely confusing, therefore Matt wasn't quite sure he believed what Chester had told him.

" Alter ego? Are you fucking kidding me?"

" What…what's wrong?" Brian asked with an arched brow. Matt sat down on the stool and ran a hand through his damp hair while peering into Chris's deep, dark blue eyes. He remained silent as the two men debated whether or not any of this was the truth.

" It just doesn't make sense."

" Yeah, I didn't think so either. I mean…what's with the black stuff?" Brian asked with confusion, obviously referring to his eyes.

" Okay yeah that's a little strange but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm finally starting to remember what happened in the morgue." Matt stopped and squinted in thought as he continued to stare at the growling beast before him, sitting passively against the wall with a deep glare.

" You planning on sharing or are we going to sit here all night and wait for the picture to be projected onto the wall?" Brian asked impatiently, glaring at the fact that his swollen lip was starting to impede his speech. Matt sat forward a little and inspected Chris's swollen jaw and cracked, dry lips.

" When he was talking to me and Jeff…about Mark and Shawn. He said that Chris... the _normal _Chris was merely a piece of flesh, a host and that they weren't his friends...they were Chris's. If he was an alter ego then wouldn't he consider them to be his friends even though he's a more violent, dangerous side of Chris?"

Brian frowned in thought and stared at Chris silently before responding.

" Good point. Well if that's the case then he must be some sort of split personality."

" Then why tell you he's an alter ego?" Matt asked quickly with a blink.

" Good question, let's ask him." Brian answered and walked towards Chris slowly. He peered down at him and gave a sideways smile at the irony. Now the predator was the one tied up and helpless.

" Alright, start talking."

Chris kept his vision towards Matt and never once looked up at Brian. It quickly became evident that getting answers out of him was going to be extremely difficult because now he remained silent once more. Was it out of fear or anger? They couldn't tell.

"Start talking or I'm going to beat it out of you." Brian snarled dangerously. Matt lowered his eyes at the comment and froze on the stool as Brian nodded…then bashed Chris in the face with the back of his fist. The creature growled out painfully and let the blood ooze onto the floor as he lowered his head in agony.

"Cough it up you prick." Brian whispered, clenching his fist with warning. Matt watched with worry as Chris did no such thing and remained silent while squinting through the throbbing pain.

"Tell me what the hell is going on or I'll start slicing off fingers."

"Brian is that really necessary?" Matt demanded with a quiet voice. Brian ignored him and gave a nod at the beast's unwillingness to comply.

"How does it feel to become one of your little victims huh? What's it like bleeding and twitching in pain? Because if you don't start explaining yourself then that pain is only going to magnify. You really want to do that to yourself?" He demanded with a trembling voice of fury.

Chris slowly looked up at him and followed him with his eyes as Brian crouched down and inspected the black flecks within his dark orbs. Suddenly, a splash of blood splattered into Brian's eyes and he blinked it away with disgust. Chris sat back slowly with satisfaction and licked up the remainder of the blood from his own lips.

Brian stood up and wiped the blood from his eyes, then kicked him in the face as hard as he could; hearing the measly creature cough out painfully.

" Son of a bitch." He hissed out at him and glared as Matt stood up and pulled him away from Chris.

" Brian, beating the hell out of him is not going to get him talking."

" Then what the hell do you want to do, huh? You want to sit here and cuddle him until he's comfortable enough to tell us what the fuck is going on? Matt he's not talking!" Brian shouted angrily into his face.

" Yeah no shit! He's not talking because he's scared okay. Can't you see that?" Matt asked desperately as Brian looked down at Chris with a burning gaze.

" Scared of what? That piece of shit is supposed to be the epitome of evil and here he is shaking like a five year old."

" That piece of shit is Chris you dumbass." Matt growled, staring at Brian with a deep glare. Brian looked down at the trembling creature and shook his head in disbelief.

" That's not Chris."

" Don't you understand? Underneath all that evil and violence…it's Chris. He is still in there Brian, lost within his own consciousness and you are beating the crap out of him!"

Brian swallowed hard and felt his jaw tighten with guilt. Matt was right and he hadn't realized it before. He wasn't mentally or physically in control and here he was, his friend, beating the shit out of him. It was clear who the real victim here was.

" Okay so what do you want me to do? Apologise?" He snapped back, still fully aware that some kind of creature was in control of Chris's actions.

" No…just try not to break anything." Matt sighed back with lowered eyes.

" Yeah well I'm not making any promises." Brian muttered under his breath as Matt sat back down on the stool. Slowly, Brian knelt down in front of Chris and sighed out loudly.

" Okay fine…we'll do it Matt's way. I won't slice off any of your fingers if you agree to tell me what the hell is going on." With a slow motion, he lifted his vision from the floor and peered into him with watering blue eyes…then gave a small sob.

" Brian…p-please…"

" Chris?" he asked, feeling his heart nearly leap out of his chest.

" B-Brian h-help…" He cried out desperately.

Matt sat forward slowly and frowned at the desperate cries now filling the room. Something wasn't quite right. He felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he watched those dark blue eyes trembling fearfully. Brian could do nothing but stare in disbelief, still shocked that the good Chris was crying out to him.

" I-I'm scared…please h-help!" He whined, letting the tears flood his cheeks.

" C-Chris…I-."

" Brian, get away from him." Matt warned quickly.

" What? Why?" He demanded, still staring at the violently crying man.

" Because that's not our Chris." Matt breathed out but unfortunately it was too late and Brian was sent flying to the floor as Chris raised his bound wrists and smacked him hard. Matt rushed towards Brian but was sent away by flailing hands and a large growl of anger. Chris sat back against the wall once again and began laughing deeply within his chest until it finally protruded through his twisted smile.

" Ugh, I'm going to fucking kill him!" Brian shouted and wiped the blood from his already swollen lips. Matt shook his head and sighed inwardly with irritation. It seemed that this was going to be an extremely long night.

" Brian don't you fucking touch him."

" Why the hell not?" he demanded loudly as the vein in his neck began to throb while Chris continued to chuckle.

" Because you're only going to add to our problems." Matt replied with annoyance.

" Oh really? Our Chris is trapped within his own mind, that…that 'thing' is going to kill us if we untie him and while we sit here we could be losing Chris forever if we don't find out how to fucking save him. I don't think our problems could get any worse!"

Brian screamed, hearing Chris's laughter increase in volume.

Matt remained silent as the younger man turned towards the beast and glared.

" I'm glad you find this so amusing because if Matt wasn't here right now, you'd be a fucking dead man."

Chris smiled up at him and licked the blood that had been splattering onto his lips from the laughter. If one thing was for sure, none of them would be getting any sleep tonight…

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers:** _Edward's Josie Black, Animal Luvr 4 Life, Mosvie 2k8, wrestlefan4, TVL, Caycee, CMPunksxXxGirl_ **and** _Dark Kaneanite._

Next chapter will be up later.

Loves ya!

Angel  
xxx


	15. Burning Battle

**I apologize for the amount of time this has taken me to update. I've been quite busy.**

**Chapter 15  
**_**Burning Battle  
**_

"Any ideas on how we're going to get him talking?"

Matt sat forward on the stool and stared at Chris in a thoughtful trance before replying to Brian's annoyed breathing.

"Not really. If we beat him, he'll only come back laughing. If we sit here and talk to him, he'll remain silent. There has to be some kind of weakness." He explained quietly, observing those dark green orbs intensely.

Chris's eyes searched Matt's slowly, becoming darker as his glare deepened.

Brian's eyes instantly brightened at a thought…a completely experimental idea mind you, but it had potential to work. Inhaling sharply, he began.

"Matt…if our Chris is still within his own consciousness, would he still be able to hear us?"

"Yes but I don't see your point." The dark haired man replied, blinking rapidly with confusion. Brian furrowed his brow in concentration and kneeled down about two feet away from the silent beast. That way if he decided to lash out at him, it would be a far enough stretch so that Brian could get away in time.

"If our Chris can hear us, then maybe he might be able to come through. It's a long shot but perhaps our Chris is his weakness."

Matt nodded a little in agreement and gave a small smile before replying.

"I'm impressed. For once you have managed to use your upstairs brain."

Brian lowered his eyes and turned to his friend, giving him the dirtiest look he could muster up.

"Just shut up and make sure he doesn't try to kill me."

"Stop wasting time." Matt stated quickly, which in turn ended the bickering before it escalated into a heated argument. Brian turned back to Chris, who in fact did not look the least bit happy about what they were discussing. His enraged blue eyes peered into the twenty-nine year olds soul as if he were trying to squeeze it to death.

"Chris-."

"–He cannot hear you." Chris interrupted suddenly with a growl.

"I beg to differ." Brian replied lightly with confidence. The fact that Evil Chris was interrupting him alone was enough to make the two wrestlers believe that this was the way to get to Good Chris…to get him to come through. Evil Chris was scared…and slowly becoming vulnerable.

"He is not strong enough. You will never reach him." Chris attempted as Brian gave a twitching smile.

"Who should I believe? Shady-evil-lying piece of shit or…myself? That's one hell of a predicament-."

"–He's dying. Fading away inside his own meat suit!" Chris shouted out suddenly, attempting to silence Brian.

"Chris I know you can hear m-."

"–I'll kill you…I'll kill all of you!" Chris roared in panic. Matt remained silent as Brian persisted with his mission, continuing to call out Chris's name and speaking to him as if he could hear him.

"You will not succeed. He's dead…d-dead…" Chris's voice wavered painfully as the sweat began dotting his tanned brow, giving him a sickly sheen.

"Come on Chris, help us out here." Brian breathed desperately, which in turn caused Chris to give a painful wail; leaning his head against the cold wall behind him. Matt swallowed hard and gave a small frown as he watched Chris squirming violently while Brian continued the verbal attack, each time calling out Chris's name.

"S-stop…" Chris whined out pitifully as Brian slowly became quiet and ceased his mission for the time being.

"Tell us what we want to know." He ordered suddenly, staring down at the shaking creature against the wall.

"Fuck you." He hissed back malevolently, receiving a cold glare from Brian.

"Chris is fighting you. That's why you are in pain. You are fading away…he's becoming stronger because he knows he can fight you. You're not strong, you're just dominant. The one thing you forgot is that people become submissive, especially while in pain." He explained slowly, making sure the creature heard him quite clearly.

Matt slid off of the stool and slowly knelt down on the floor beside Chris, eyeing Brian with silent warning. Brian nodded reluctantly, acknowledging what had to be done next and backed away. Matt gave a small sigh and looked down at the trembling beast; his tanned face soaked with perspiration from the constant heavy feeling against his body.

"We'll continue this if we have to. You can either sit here in pain while Chris pushes your consciousness away or you can cooperate with us. It's your choice." He explained calmly with a soft tone.

Chris turned his head slowly towards Matt and squinted painfully with a few laboured breaths. It was evident that he was in the process of considering which option he should take but the hope that he'd cooperate quickly vanished while his twisted smile grew.

"I-I'd rather burn in hell." He barked with a deep growl, digging his head painfully into the wall behind him. Matt's soft eyes quickly darkened at his response and before he knew it, his fist came up and made painful contact with the side of Chris's face…snapping his head roughly in the opposite direction. Brian raised his eyes, half with shock, half with disbelief and he watched as Matt's breathing became heavy and angry.

"You'd say you'd rather burn in hell. Well…that can easily be arranged." He whispered in a deep tone, gripping Chris's jaw in a painfully tight grasp. He closed his eyes tightly in agony as Matt squeezed a little harder, enjoying the look of pain upon his sick twisted face.

"Matt…" Chester warned quietly. Matt continued to tighten his grip until Chris could no longer hold back and finally gave a loud growl of pain followed by a short cry.

"Matt, you can't do this. You even told me yourself that hurting him physically would be hurting Chris. Remember when we agreed on the psychological aspect of this interrogation?" Brian demanded, raising his voice slightly to get his friend's attention.

Matt glanced at Brian for a brief moment and let his anger fade a little before turning back to Chris's trembling lips which were now becoming sickly pale.

"Alright…one more chance. Tell us what we want to know." He whispered into his ear. Chris swallowed hard and opened his eyes; his chest rising and falling rapidly in time with his breathing.

"N-no-."

"–Fine then. I guess Chris's just going to have to tell us himself." Matt replied with a dark whisper, burning Chris's neck with his breath.

"Finish it Brian." He ordered loudly this time, causing Chris to jolt suddenly. Brian stared down at them and swallowed hard; his eyes searching Chris's with uncertainty. What if this didn't work? What if in the process of summoning the good Chris, they killed him?

"Brian FINISH IT." He ordered again, this time confused by his friend's silence.

Taking a hesitant breath, Brian kneeled down once more and closed his eyes in order to regain his own strength. Opening them, he peered into those dark blue and swallowed the sickening feeling creeping up his throat.

"Chris…fight him. He's weak when you are strong. Fight him." The younger man's voice wavered with worry and fear for his friend who had begun to tremble violently in pain at his words. He was causing him pain and it just didn't feel right…even if he was a killer. Evil Chris gasped out in agony as the intense pressure against his body began strengthening, crushing his insides to the point of cave in.

"Chris, we need you to keep fighting. Don't let him control you." Matt stated desperately, receiving a short bark of protest from within Chris's throat. That bark soon morphed into an agonizing roar and he closed his eyes tightly.

"Don't let him control you." Brian repeated Matt's words but before Matt could say anything in response, Chris opened his eyes and cried out suddenly with trembling eyes filled with tears.

"Stop! P-please! I don't want to die!"

Matt and Brian exchanged confused yet interested glances and looked back at him as he continued to sob out in horror.

"P-please…" He pleaded with a heavy gasp; the tears running freely down his paling cheeks. He didn't want to die? So that's what he was so afraid of.

"What do you mean you don't want to die?" Matt asked quietly, watching his body jolting violently as a wave of pain rushed over him.

"Y-you're killing me…you're k-killing him." He replied with a heavy sob, and then swallowed a painful moan. Brian's hazel eyes shimmered with question as Matt let go of his jaw.

"What do you mean we're killing him?"

"Idiots…you're all idiots…" Evil Chris sighed roughly with a snort.

"Tell us." Matt ordered sternly, gazing into his watery dark blue eyes. Taking in a heavy gulp of air, Chris leaned his head back against the wall and groaned in agony.

"The m-magnitude of stress against his body is tremendous. I-If you continue this, you'll be killing us." He explained, wheezing heavily through each painful breath.

Brian glared with concern and stared at Matt for a few moments, watching his eyes darting around the room in realization.

"The constant battle for dominance between the two hemispheres of the brain is what is causing the pain. If we continue to do this, his brain will short circuit and he'll…they'll die." Matt explained quietly, almost to himself more than Brian.

The blonde raised his eyes in disbelief and gave a short laugh.

"So by saving him, we're killing him? You have got to be fucking kidding me! And how the hell do you know all of this anyway?" He shouted, his glare slowly returning.

"In high school I read a lot of psychology books. Not much to do on a Friday night…plus they were kind of interesting." Matt answered sheepishly.

"And you were going to tell me this when?"

"I hadn't thought of it until now." He replied in defence. Chris gave a short cry of pain and pulled his arms closer to his chest in an attempt to alleviate his agony.

"Okay…so if we've stopped calling out to Chris then why is he still in pain?" Brian asked. Matt looked back at him and watched the sweat dripping onto his brow as he gave another loud moan; the throbbing in his skull becoming almost unbearable at this point.

"Chris is still fighting him."

"Does Chris not know that this is killing him?" Brian demanded.

"Chris doesn't care…h-he wants me dead." Evil Chris replied with a desperate whine. Matt's eyes widened with alarm and he swallowed hard in disbelief. Chris was putting himself through pain…just so that he could kill this creature living inside him, all the while killing himself in the process. It was insane.

"Can you stop him?" Matt asked quickly.

"N-not unless I tell you…" He slowly trailed off as another wave of pain pulsated through his body, eliciting a deep bark of agony from within his chest.

"Tell us what?" Brian demanded, staring at his flushed visage which was streaming with sweat.

"W-who I am…"

Matt glared and leaned in closer, waiting desperately with a pounding heart for him to tell them.

"Who are you?" He whispered in question.

Chris opened his eyes slowly and looked up towards the ceiling, swallowing the blood which was coating his tongue like thick paint.

"I am what lies within us all. I am the voice deep within which calls us towards the darkness. I am He who frightens sleeping men during the night and shakes their souls. I am He who carries death within my wake. I am violence. I am hate. I am…Evil."

With a deep, long growl he closed his eyes and slowly lowered his head to his chest…then gave a heavy sigh in defeat. Silence whispered throughout the room like a thick fog, dampening the sounds of their beating hearts and destroying the sound of their breath. Matt and Brian stared at him with shimmering eyes and didn't dare move a muscle.

The howling winds against the windows had seemed to have ceased as well as the pounding rain above. The room was covered in silence…an uncomfortable eerie silence. Brian looked around with darting eyes and raised a brow before slowly letting his tongue free from the cavern of his mouth.

"That's it?"

Matt lowered his eyes and slowly looked towards Brian who held a confused, yet slightly disappointed glare.

"What the hell do you mean, 'that's it'?" He demanded quietly.

"T-that's it…that's it? Matt…he's a metaphor."

Matt stared at him for the longest time and then rolled his eyes.

"I don't quite think that's what he meant." He replied slowly.

Suddenly, a short billowing cry was heard which caused the two men to immediately direct their attention to the broken body lying up against the wall. Matt and Brian watched as the creature raised it's head, using all the force he could muster and laid back against the wall; tears flooding down his reddening cheeks.

"M-Matt…" He cried out with a cough, followed by a short sob. Matt's eyes softened as the man opened his eyes revealing a light blue colour, trembling with warm salty tears.

"Chris?" he nearly gasped, putting his hand comfortingly on his chest. Chris whined out another sob and grabbed his arm tightly in an attempt to receive some more much needed comfort.

"M-Matt…he…I c-couldn't…"

"Chris, its okay." He whispered as Brian came up to the other side of him and slowly began untying his wrists from the rough rope still digging into his skin.

"Chris, we're going to get you out of here okay? Just calm down…everything will be alright." Brian attempted with a soothing voice, rubbing his wrists gently to get the circulation going again. Matt wrapped his arm around the trembling body of his friend and felt Chris leaning his head against his chest, still crying for his own safety.

Matt gave out a heavy sigh of relief and glanced over at Brian who could do nothing but stare at Chris. He had made it through the darkness which had been holding him back with heavy chains. Relief however was not one of the emotions coursing through Brian's system. There was still an unsettling feeling within his gut, telling him that perhaps this was not over.

Looking into Chris's devastated and horrified eyes, he hoped to God that this was all over and decided to ignore the sickening feeling still lurking within…

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers: **_Animal Luvr 4 Life, x.Mayhem.x, Edward's Josie Black, Tina, Dark Kaneanite, TVL, CMPunksxXxGirl, Caycee, wrestlefan4_** and **_Mosvie 2k8._

**The next chapter will be up in a couple of hours.**

**Loves to all!**

**Angel  
xxx**


	16. Gazing Abyss

**WARNING: There's a hint of rape in this chapter, so if you don't like just skim over. And also the C word has been used yet again.**

**Chapter 16  
**_**Gazing Abyss**_

The night had soon thickened around the asylum while the three men sat together in the corner of the kitchen in silence. There wasn't much to say about what had happened with Chris but they all knew it needed not to be discussed. Well not at the present moment anyway.

Matt and Brian had agreed to let Chris rest for the remainder of the night so he could recuperate after the immense pain he had gone through. Of course that pain was not limited to his physical state but to his mental state as well. While blowing out a few candles to allow a softer glow about the room, Brian began observing his traumatized friend who in fact gave no acknowledgment to anyone in the room.

He just sat there, silently as if in some sort of trance…mesmerized by the candlelight flickering off the wall before him. Those blue eyes never blinked, not once as Brian watched him and his new sense of worry was beginning to manifest. Matt had noticed Brian's constant pacing around the room and the thoughtful frown now adorning his brow. After hours of putting up with the annoyance, Matt sighed with relief as Brian decided to look for a way out of the asylum.

There wasn't much hope but perhaps he would be able to find some sort of crack in the walls, a broken hinge on a door or a window without bars. The one thought that comforted the singer, though was the fact that he would not be killed since Chris was safely sitting inside the kitchen with Matt. While Brian was gone, Matt decided to stretch his legs and walk around the kitchen for a while, making sure that Chris was still comfortably sitting up against the wall.

Moving his eyes around the room, Matt slowly made his way to the coolers and opened one up. The pain of hunger soon began to rumble its way throughout his stomach so he picked out a bag of regular potato chips. Frowning, he opened it up and rolled his eyes at the half packed bag. How companies could get away with filling their potato chip bags half with air was beyond him. Munching on a few, he returned to where Chris was sitting and plopped down on the floor in front of him.

"You hungry?" he asked casually while poking through the bag.

Chris's eyes shimmered with half a blink to his words and he slowly made his vision focus on his chip munching friend. It had been hours since he had even looked at him and Matt silently hoped that he'd return to the world of reality.

"Chip? No chip? Alright, you seem more like chocolate bar kind of guy. Well, I guess you know Brian ate them all…sorry about that. He's a pig." Matt chuckled slightly while trying to get some kind of response, any kind of response out of Chris. Sighing a little to himself, Matt nodded and looked back down into the bag. The silence was killing him.

"You know Chris; no one blames you for what happened." He explained quietly, eyeing a very tattered looking chip. "Look, I'm not even going to pretend to know what the hell happened to you. All I know is that some people have certain darkness within themselves and lose control of it. You're not a bad person Chris…I just think you lost control of whatever darkness was inside of you. It could happen to anyone and seeing as though you spent most of your adolescence inside a mental institution, I don't blame you."

Looking up from the bag, he watched Chris's gentle features darken under the fading candlelight. The metal chain which hung around his neck rose and fell softly with his chest as he took slow breaths. He looked calm, relaxed and in deep thought about something…something so deep his eyes became locked out of focus once again. Matt bit his lip and gave a deep sigh of curiosity before asking the question he really didn't want to ask.

"Chris…what happened to your parents?" Silence whispered throughout the room as a small breeze from a cracked window blew across Chris's perspiring face. A blink…two blinks. Finally, he had acknowledged his friend's presence in the room. Matt shivered slightly at the frigid draft creeping up his spine and silently wished he hadn't asked that question.

Chris's vision slowly unclouded and he peered towards his tall friend; blue eyes staring continuously. For so many years he couldn't remember what exactly had happened to his parents and why he had been inside some hospital for most of his childhood. But while he was sitting here, in front of Matt…the images slowly became clearer. No, he had not been in a hospital as his Aunt had lied to him so many years ago. It was this asylum that he had been brought to…because of a savage murder.

The murder of his parents…the murder he had committed at the mere age of ten. It was by some strange twist of fate that their new photo shoot had been scheduled here…the photographers never showing up. It seemed almost cruel in a way but as far as Chris was concerned, he now knew the truth of what had really happened when he was younger.

"T-They had been fighting outside my room." He began with a short whisper which slowly evolved into a muffled voice. Matt listened intently to his friend's words…words he had not spoken for hours.

"I was sleeping…trying to sleep. All I could hear were my parent's voices becoming louder and louder and I couldn't even tune them out with a pillow over my head." Matt watched as Chris's eyes squinted painfully with memory and the tears began to form. It was evident that the events of what had happened were starting to play like a movie inside his head, forcing him to witness everything all over again.

"Then, all of a sudden there was this…new voice. It crept into my head like some fog, covering my brain with darkness. It kept telling me to end the shouting…to fight against the screaming. The voice was deep and full of evil…a gravely tone which I could not escape. I was scared…until that fear became replaced with deep hatred and anger."

"I c-crawled out of bed and opened the door, seeing both of them standing there screaming at each other. I wanted to cry…to yell at them to stop shouting but I couldn't move my lips. I couldn't move my arms or legs; I was frozen. T-Then I felt my legs move by themselves, like some unseen presence was forcing them and the next thing I knew…I was watching my parents tumbling down the stairs. I could hear the sickening sound of their bones being crushed and snapped."

Matt's heart nearly stopped as Chris began recollecting the more…disturbing parts of the night. With wide brown eyes of terror, Chris continued; his voice wavering through the memory.

"There was this great pressure on my body and I found myself being pulled down the stairs towards their twitching bodies. Looking around, I saw that my father had knocked a vase off it's stand and the pieces had shattered all over the floor in sharp shards. I then watched as my own hands picked up the white shards and began slicing and stabbing at my parents."

"I watched in horror as their blood splashed into my eyes and onto the walls. The worst part though, was the fact that my parents were still alive…screaming and gurgling the blood from their mouths. I couldn't stop. I continued stabbing them until they stopped screaming…until their eyes stopped moving and just stared at me."

Matt stared into Chris's wide eyes, watching every speckle of brown shimmer relentlessly against the candle's fire. The crystal tears bubbled up and rimmed the blue then fell effortlessly to his dirty sweat soaked cheeks.

"The next thing I know, I'm being wheeled into this small room on a bed with lights burning my eyes and leather restraints digging into my skin. I could barely breathe because the smell of sterilized gloves and equipment kept choking me.

No matter how much I screamed out of fear, the doctors wouldn't tell me what was going on or why I was there. Then those cunts stuck a needle in my neck and another one in my arm until I stopped screaming. A few moments later, I opened my eyes and…and they weren't my eyes."

Chris choked out a long sob which sent Matt crawling towards him suddenly, hearing the pain in each of his words. Wrapping his arms around him, Matt rocked him gently as his tears soaked his shirt and a few strained cries escaped his throat.

"T-they weren't m-my eyes…" he sobbed again, repeating it over and over. Chris must have been absolutely terrified after recalling all these memories and it wasn't helping that they were still here; sitting inside the very asylum he had been confined to so many years ago.

"Chris it's all over. You don't have to be scared anymore." Matt whispered while rubbing his back gently, tickling the skin with his warm hand.

"N-no you don't understand!" Chris yelled suddenly and pulled away from him then stood up and began pacing around the room, pulling at his blonde hair. Matt stood up slowly and watched him with caution as the tears began freely flooding his cheeks.

"Chris…what don't I understand?" He asked quietly, trying in some way to calm him down which of course wasn't working. The disturbed man still pacing around the room clutched a hand over his eyes and sobbed out loudly with a muffled cry.

"You'll never understand. Never!"

Matt swallowed hard and walked towards him, taking him roughly by the arms and shaking him out of his daze.

"Chris, what wouldn't I understand?" He shouted desperately, trying to get into his friend's mindset as quickly as possible to avoid a breakdown.

"H-he's still inside me. I can f-feel him…" He whined in terror, snapping his eyes open wide. Matt frowned suddenly as he noticed the black beginning to swim and flash within the blue orbs. Panic soon began filling his heart with pain as he felt Chris beginning to weaken beneath his grasp.

"Stay with me Chris…come on man." Matt pleaded with a quick breath, hoping Chris could somehow regain control of himself. If that 'thing' took control of him again, it was possible that Chris could never be saved. He'd fade away inside himself, leaving the evil to take control and destroy everyone in its path.

"I-I can't…I-I ca-."

Slowly, his panicked breathing stopped and his mouth closed with ease. Matt stared with wide eyes, wondering what had happened and why Chris had suddenly stopped crying out for help. Then the reality of the situation began to sink in. Chris slowly raised his lowered head and peered into Matt's fearful eyes, piercing them like angry lightening.

As Matt stared into the black abyss of his orbs, a terrifying shiver of death cascaded throughout his body and closed his throat. This was not Chris. Matt's ears burned terribly as he listened to the growling laughter from the creature before him. Feeling his legs shaking uncontrollably, Matt stepped back and tried not to let him see his fear. Of course, it was of no use and the amused, twisted smile grew upon the monster's face.

"Did you honestly believe I had given poor little Chrissy complete control over his body?" He asked with a frown, stepping forward slowly and backing Matt into a corner.

"L-let him go." Matt whispered desperately with a helpless look upon his face. At the moment things weren't looking so good because number one, Chris was probably lost forever and number two, he was going to be killed and there was no way Brian would return in time to help him.

"Let him go? Alright fine, I'll just destroy myself so Chrissy can live happily ever after." He replied sarcastically, growing impatient with the taller man's demands.

"So what are you going to do? Kill me? Just like you killed Shawn and Mark and...and J-Jeff? I promise you that if you kill me, Brian will hunt you down and slice your throat without regard for Chris's life. I _promise_ you." Matt explained angrily with a trembling voice, feeling the beads of sweat now running down his neck. Chris gave a small smirk and bit his bottom lip, eyeing Matt hungrily as if he were his last meal.

"Ooo I'm shaking. Besides, killing you would be premature. I have something else planned for you dear Mattie…something much more fun." He replied with a sly tone.

Without even realizing what was going on, Matt felt a fist connect with the side of his face and he stumbled towards the cooking area. Chris marched up to him and punched him again, this time with more force which caused the skin to break around his eye brow. Blood trickled down Matt's face and he sniffed the coming red liquid from his nose as Chris gripped his belt and ripped it off with a growl. He then wrapped it around Matt's neck and pushed him down onto the stainless steel table, almost taking the breath right out of his chest.

Matt shivered suddenly as Chris ripped off his pants, allowing him to feel the cold steel of the table beneath him. Matt shut his eyes as tightly as he could while hearing Chris's pants clink onto the floor. Well…this certainly wasn't going to be a quiet night. Matt's heart rate increased as Chris pulled himself on top of him and gently pulled the belt gradually tighter around his neck.

"What's the matter Matt? At a loss for words?" he asked, seemingly out of breath. Hell, of course he was out of breath…he was so fucking aroused by the bleeding form beneath him. Matt glared and opened his eyes, turning his vision away from the looming creature.

Remaining silent, he hoped Chris would just kill him. He'd rather be a corpse and be raped then have one of his best friends keeping him alive for the disgusting torture. Then he had to remember that this was not one of his best friends…this was an evil being. This was not Chris and therefore in some disturbing way, he was not as disgusted by his actions.

"Alright then…I guess I'm just going to have to make you scream." He growled deeply at him.

The first scream could have shattered any window but unfortunately the windows in the kitchen were double plated and therefore remained intact. Matt's eyes squeezed shut so tightly, he saw stars and the tears quickly began coating his thick eyelashes. That first thrust must have been 'the' worst pain he had ever felt in his entire life. His whole body was on fire and sharp pains stabbed at his insides where he wasn't even aware he had nerves. Chris tightened the belt around Matt's neck and smiled that large menacing smile before pounding back into him again and hearing him squeal beneath him. Not only was this arousing Chris beyond all comprehension but he noticed that Matt was becoming increasingly hard with each thrust.

"Mmm Mattie likes it." Chris moaned as he thrusted into him again, much deeper than he had been. Matt bit his lip as he felt the vein in his neck beginning to bulge and the blood rising into his brain. He didn't want to be aroused by Chris's actions; in fact he wanted to kill himself for becoming so hard. But the fact that oxygen was being deprived from his brain...made the situation a tad more erotic than he would have preferred. Being frozen in pain, he could do nothing but lie there and take every unwanted penetration and feel every unwanted jolt of arousal. And yet he still couldn't believe that even though his blood had begun coating Chris's erection, his heavy panting seemed to have been affecting him terribly. Suddenly, Matt jolted and arched his back up violently as something deep within him had been hit...sending an intense wave of pleasure to cascade through his body.

Out of sheer instinct and arousal, Matt lifted his arms and dug into Chris's back with his nails, tearing the skin violently as the pain was being overshadowed by a need to release. Chris groaned deeply at the pain in his back and began panting mercilessly with each quickening thrust. Matt could no longer control his own body and was sent into convulsive arching, letting his head fall to the side. Sweat beaded down their necks and rolled off their chests as the pleasure began increasing, as well as their distressed moans. The table creaked and cracked under their weight but that did not seem to faze them. Matt's head banged against the metal as Chris pounded into him with amazing speed, increasing the tightness yet again around Matt's neck. Matt felt yet another bolt of pleasure as his oxygen level depleted further but soon the belt slipped away, giving him some much needed air.

After realizing the belt had been ignored, Matt's eyes widened as Chris began slowly pumping him...roughly. The mere movements, increasing in rapidity had attacked Matt's heart and caused it to pound violently against his chest.

"Ugh...Matt...f-fuck" The panting quickly locking off his airwaves, Chris began to feel the effects of oxygen loss and couldn't help but collapse his head into the side of Matt's neck. Now the innocent Matt could care less what kind of creature was trying to cause him pain. It was as if all of what had been happening through the week didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. The pleasure was too intense to ignore and he quickly forgot about Brian who had no clue what was going on in this room. Soon the electrifying pleasure began increasing agonizingly slow until their desperate panting became cries of bliss.

Just as Matt thought he was about to overheat, lose all his breath and pass out, he felt himself come with a violent explosion into Chris's sweating, shaking hand and he let loose a broken cry of ecstasy. He then felt his insides burning as Chris came with a heavy wail and dug his nails into Matt's chest...letting the blood soak his fingernails. With all his now fatigued weight, he collapsed onto Matt and began wheezing and panting heavily against his neck, relaxing his muscles. Matt swallowed with a dry, scratchy throat and slowly began trying to find his breath. Chris gave a low growl of pleasure and pulled himself up by his hands on either side of the table and peered down at Matt's shining face; his metal chain dangling over his heated chest. The creature eyed him with fascination and interest as he watched him come down from the amazing high.

Chris slid himself off the table and nearly fell over from the blood rushing down from his head. He continued to observe the heavily breathing body on the table and knew he was slowly becoming immobile with pain. Giving a smile, he pulled on his pants and grabbed Matt's arm...then pushed him roughly to the floor. The edge of the table dripped blood as Matt wheezed painfully on the frozen ground, frigidly naked and vulnerable. Chris ran a hand through his soaked blonde hair and threw his clothes at him. Those once blissful eyes were now peering up at him pathetically in pain and he couldn't help but growl with amusement.

"Thank you Matt. I'm sure Chris enjoyed that...immensely." He smiled which caused Matt to force his own vomit to slide back down his throat. He watched, trembling violently on the floor as Chris left the room and slammed the kitchen doors. Matt lowered his head painfully to the floor and wrapped his arms around himself, unable to move. Was he frozen in pain...or was it the fact that he knew Chris would be looking for Brian. Either way, he knew he would not be leaving the kitchen floor for a long time...

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers: **_Edward's Josie Black, Caycee _**and **_Animal Luvr 4 Life_

**Next two chapters will be up tomorrow.**

**Loves ya!**

**Angel  
xxx**


	17. Open Your Eyes

**I apologise Caycee for the late update, I was having trouble with my internet connection.**

**Chapter 17  
**_**Open Your Eyes**_

An hour and a half. He had counted all the exact minutes he had been lying on the cold tile floor and reached an hour and a half. The pain in his lower regions had managed to lessen a tad over that hour and a half and he found that he could now move his legs closer to his body without excruciating pain throbbing up his spine.

Although he still could not sit up, he took comfort in the fact that at least his body was healing itself-gradually slow mind you. Oh but there was no way the annoyance of that dulling pain could compare to the incessant dripping of water from the ceiling.

Constant splattering into the mucky grout of the flooring…it was enough to drive anyone mad. Matt was about ready to rip his hair out but then reconsidered, not wanting to go bald at such an early age. This place sure had its issues, that much was obvious.

Matt lifted his head quickly and looked up, straining his neck terribly to find the source of the water. Of course, he couldn't see it but that dripping never stopped. Lowering his head with a thud, he stared helplessly at the bottom of the counter beside him and wondered if Brian had been killed yet. Just like the mould creeping up the side of the cabinet, they would all eventually rot inside this God forsaken excuse for an abandoned Asylum. Well, not Chris…he'd still be alive.

Matt then couldn't help but think of what he would do after he ridded himself of the Brian and himself. Perhaps he'd jump off a bridge and Matt would watch from the Heavens as the little prick's soul tried to claw itself out of the fiery pits of hell. Just as his own homicidal thoughts of Chris being ripped apart by demons started, sounded absolutely delicious, a loud echoing bang from down the hall shook him from his thoughts and rattled his bones.

Oh fuck.

That's all his mind could process as the sound of feet scuffing the floors approached. Had Chris come back to finish him off? Had he come back to torture him and rape him some more? He still wanted to kill himself for slightly enjoying it…then decided to blame it all on human instincts. It wasn't his fault that Chris had that effect on him. Those dark piercing blue eyes.

That tanned, perspiring skin stretching across his perfectly toned chest. The blonde hair leaning slightly over his forehead, shading his intense inhuman glare. The shuffling feet became louder as his thoughts raced and his heart throbbed against his chest. Even if Chris returned to the kitchen through those doors, he wouldn't be able to see him from behind the counters. Then maybe he wouldn't have to see Brian's blood dripping off of his fingers.

He could just imaging those strong warm hands grabbing him by the neck and throwing him back onto the table for more. He could almost feel the hot breath on his skin and see those electrifying eyes staring into his soul, causing it to shake and tremble submissively. Wow, this really was not a good time to be having these thoughts since he could now hear the knob being clutched and the door creaking open.

The form stood there silently for a few seconds, and then cautiously walked towards the cooking area where Matt lay. Matt closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he expected to hear Chris's shivering laughter…but instantly calmed at the angry, confused voice.

" Not to be the one who asks all the redundant questions but where the hell is Chris?"

Matt sighed heavily and looked up at Brian, who happened to be peering down at him with those hazel, judging eyes. For a moment, he had forgotten that he was lying on the floor completely naked and bleeding.

" Thanks for your concern." He mumbled with a scratchy voice, seeing an instant change in Brian's eyes. They immediately went from hard to soft as he suddenly noticed the blood covering the floor beneath him.

" Oh fuck…what the hell happened?" he breathed out, bending down beside him. Matt, with the help of Brian managed to sit himself up against the counter and stared away from him with a deep glare.

" You see me bleeding on the floor completely naked and your first thought is 'where the hell is Chris'?"

Brian lowered his eyes guiltily and shakily handed him his jeans.

" Okay, I'm sorry but do I really want to know what happened to you?"

" No, you don't but you could have at least expressed some concern when you walked in." Matt hissed back and very carefully slid his legs into his jeans.

" So what happened? Did Chris completely freak out, undress you and stab you in the ass?" Brian asked quietly while Matt painfully whimpered as he pulled on his jeans.

" Yeah Brian, that's exactly what happened. Chris decided to rid me of my warmth and stick a knife up my butt. What the hell is the matter with you?" He demanded with a broken voice.

" Well excuse me for being slightly uncomfortable with all of this. I walk in, Chris is missing and you are bleeding all over the place and you expect me to be able to properly comfort you? What happened up here between you and Chris is your own damn business." Brian explained as Matt began pulling on his belt.

Matt sighed out loudly and gave him the darkest glare he had ever seen the shy man produce.

" It wasn't between me and Chris."

Brian, a little taken back by his remark, furrowed his brow with confusion and cocked his head to make sure he was hearing him correctly.

" Uh…w-what? You did this to yourself?"

" Yeah Brian…I raped myself." Matt muttered sarcastically with anger.

" So Chris raped you."

" No, Chris is gone."

" Well yeah, I'm aware of that."

" _Evil _Chris raped me!" Matt shouted suddenly, causing Brian to sit there silently for several moments. Taking in all the information, Brian closed his mouth and looked down to the floor. Matt gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his damp hair, watching the morning sun beginning to cast deep crimson rays across the musty flooring.

" Jesus…" The singer muttered in disbelief and fear, knowing that saving Chris would be nearly impossible now. That thing inside him was far too strong for Chris to fight.

" So where do you suppose he went?" Brian asked quietly as he helped Matt stand up-a little wobbly at first but soon he was standing up to the best of his abilities.

" No clue. I think he went looking for you." Matt replied with a short breath, wincing at the new wave of pain shaking his legs.

" Well where do you suppose he thought I went?"

" Where _did_ you go?" Matt asked impatiently with a glare. Brian rubbed his dirty face and looked around the room absentmindedly before replying.

" I was in the basement, more specifically the chapel."

Matt stared at him for what seemed like ages as he remained silent, then hastily forced him to continue.

" And?"

" And there are a bunch of boarded up old doors and windows. The door at the back however, had a few rays of light shining through. When I walked up to it, I could feel cold air through the cracks in the boards. I think we may be able to kick through that door and make it outside." He explained and opened a drawer, grabbing a sharp edged knife.

Matt glanced at the shining blade and frowned with confusion while Brian gripped it tightly, observing the edge.

" Uh…you planning on cutting fish while we're down there?" he asked, causing Brian's hazel eyes to perk up to his.

" Matt, I know you're a little hungry but let's stay focused alright?"

" Brian what the hell do we need a knife for if we're going to be kicking down a door?"

Brian rolled his eyes and gave a heavy sigh before throwing Chris's shirt at his chest.

" It's not for the door my dear friend. It's for Chris."

Matt frowned and grabbed the knife from his hand, then shook his head ferociously.

" No."

" No?"

" You cannot hurt him."

Brian stared into his shimmering brown eyes and crossed his arms. Had he completely lost his mind?

" Matt…that monster raped you. He killed our friends and now Chris is lost within his own consciousness. He is going to find us and kill us as well and you don't want him to be stopped?" Brian demanded quietly.

Matt glanced down at the knife within his own hands and shook his head again, swallowing hard.

" We can't kill Chris."

" Newsflash, that's not Chris! Chris is gone, disappeared, poof! That creature is only going to continue killing until something stops it and that something is going to be us." Brian explained; his glare deepening at his friend's unwillingness to comply. He knew what that thing was yet he still wanted it alive. It was suicide.

" We still might be able to save him. Maybe that thing has another weakenes-."

" –No. We are finished playing this game, Matt. This _has_ to stop. I want that thing dead."

Matt's gaze softened at Brian's words of malice. He felt his body becoming suddenly numb with emotional and physical pain as he could just picture Chris's eyes dimming with death; death they were going to inflict upon him. It was murder. How could they justify killing their best friend? Because an evil monster took control of him and killed a bunch of other people? It wasn't Chris's fault. Why did he have to die for this to end? Why did he have to die in the name of evil? With an emotionless gaze, Matt grabbed a flashlight from the counter and slipped on his shirt.

" Fine. You can go on your little killing expedition. I, however am going to find a way out of here…starting with that door in the chapel. I hope you and Chris have fun." He spat and slowly limped towards the door, leaving Brian standing there in complete and utter disbelief.

" Just like that, you're going to leave me up here by myself?" He demanded loudly so that his voice echoed off the vaulted ceiling. Matt stopped and turned around, eyeing the dim sunlight reflecting off of Brian's hazel eyes. For a brief moment, he really hated those eyes…that penetrating glare he just couldn't shake off.

Oh how he wished he could see the life being squeezed from those eyes, that dirty face paling rapidly. He could almost imagine his own hands, wrapped around that frail soft neck of that measly human…choking him until the purple veins in his forehead bulged to the point of explosion.

The sound of gasping and desperate clicking of the throat was like pleasurable music to his ears. Hell, maybe he was starting to go insane but he didn't care. He just wanted it all to end. How this man…this friend, could even think of killing Chris was beyond his comprehension. It almost seemed evil.

" Good bye Brian." He murmured before slowly turning back around and exiting the room with a slam.

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers:** _Animal Luvr 4 Life, Tina, Dark Kaneanite, Edward's Josie Black, Caycee_ **and** _Mosvie 2k8_

**I'll put chapter 18 when I come home from work... Maybe you'll even get the rest of the fic ;-)**

**Loves ya**

**Angel  
xxx**


	18. Unstable

**A hint of slash in this chapter, but nothing graphic.**

**Chapter 18  
**_**Unstable**_

The dim light of the flashlight illuminated the stony wall of the basement before him as he paced himself through the meandering corridor. Matt wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and continued his journey throughout the dark hall, searching for that chapel Brian had been talking about. He was going to leave this place…even if he had to die trying.

At this point, he really didn't give a shit if Brian was still upstairs, probably hunting Chris down. Something deep within him hoped that Chris would find Brian first…and snap the little vermin's neck in half. Normally, he would have flinched at the thought of one of his best friends being brutally murdered but somehow he just couldn't stop his heart from pounding pleasurably against his chest with excitement as he imagined those black pupils in his eyes constricting to a painful pinpoint as his neck gave a disturbing crack. He even found himself chuckling at the thought and glared happily; turning a sharp corner.

Matt forced himself to stop at the massive sight before him…those heavy oak doors shining against the light his torch gave. Each cross was engraved deeply into the solid wood and wavered with a shadow as he advanced slowly towards them. Matt took a firm step forward, feeling the stony floor beneath him crack. Just as he was about to gather his courage and reach his hand towards the door to push it open, he froze suddenly in spot as the two massive oak doors creaked and moaned open slowly as if some unseen presence were behind them…pulling them open.

The blood in his ears throbbed loudly as his adrenaline level augmented with each pound of his heart. Someone had been expecting him. Swallowing hard, he observed the darkness before him blindly and forced his legs to move himself forward…into the abyss of cold black air. Matt listened to his own hollow breathing while he slowly paced himself into the chapel. He tried to breathe through his mouth to avoid smelling all that damp rotting wood around him from the ceiling and pews.

After being in this asylum for God knows how long, he really wanted that smell to burn in fucking hell. He was literally sick of mould. The whites of his eyes glinted curiously as his flashlight reflected off of the musty stained glass windows surrounding the stone walled room.

It was eerily quiet in the room as he stepped along the middle aisle, passing pew after pew, dusty song book after dusty song book and past deep puddles in the flooring. He didn't exactly trust the foundation of this building and felt slightly apprehensive being in the basement, hoping the whole room didn't cave in on him. Matt stopped suddenly as he felt something slick and wet absorb into the lining of his shoe.

Great, he had stepped into a puddle of water…or so he thought. His eyes trailed down to the red carpeted isle and he shone the light onto his left shoe. A feeling of dizziness and nausea passed through him as he stared at the red stain seeping into his shoe and through his sock.

Blood.

The puddle was massive and still very wet, of course with all the moisture from the basement it didn't have time to dry. He immediately snapped his vision up from his shoe and followed the puddle to the front of the altar. The stairs leading up to the long wooden table were covered in deep crimson drops and streaks as well as dark puddles.

Leaning his light up, Matt focused on the mangled piece of flesh…dripping and crucified to the table with rosaries stabbed in each palm. He felt surprisingly calm as Mark's wide glazed over eyes stared at him; the light of the flashlight creating ghoulish shadows across his greenish yellow face. Slam. Matt spun around at the echoing boom only to find that the two doors behind him had been slammed shut…and there was no one there to close them. Feeling his hands beginning to shake uncontrollably, he slowly turned back around to the altar and took a step back with surprise and shock.

Through the darkness, he watched as a long narrow match was lit and trailed it's firelight towards a tall candle, still sitting on its stand. Grey smoke danced and swayed upward from the wick while the flame began sputtering into a growing light, illuminating the dark face behind it. Matt watched, entranced by those gleaming green eyes, peering into him with amusement and a dark twisted glare. Chris then moved his vision into the bright yellow and orange flame, watching the tip dance with each breath he took.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

Matt swallowed hard and felt his cheeks growing hot as Chris's voice continued to echo off the vaulted ceiling.

" You look at a flame like this and think to yourself…a flame is just a flame. There's no substance to it…its uncontrollable and erratic. But then you look deeper, deeper into the core of the flame and you begin to see how it holds itself against the wick, effortlessly burning it while keeping itself alive."

Chris then lit another candle and blew out the match, setting it down on the white cloth which was outstretched against the table on the altar.

" Two flames…two different candles…one light. Reminds me of this little planet…all those lives, all those lights creating one essence of humanity much like the glow a few candles can set among a room."

Chris stepped down a few steps from the altar and glanced at the two flames, each glowing with their own life force.

" Light can be controlled...just like I can control these two flames. I can make them hotter with a longer wick…or I can deplete them of oxygen with my hand and they burn out. As humans, we learn to control and embrace the fire that creates our light.

But when is that light not enough? When do we thirst for that uncontrollable fire within ourselves that darkens our hearts and allows us great power? When do we give into that part of ourselves that craves a different fire…a dark fire?"

Matt's eyes twitched nervously as Chris slowly approached him; the candlelight creating a warm glow among his dark features. The older man stopped before Matt and peered into his soft brown eyes, observing him with almost a sense of loving admiration and curiosity.

" That dark fire is growing hot within you. You can feel it…the impulses, the thoughts, the sense of freedom and strength. _Your_ Chris felt it and couldn't help but give into the intoxicating flame. I can see that same flame in your eyes…that flickering darkness which calls to you."

Matt never blinked once as Chris licked his bottom lip hungrily with excitement, still observing the soft spoken man before him. He could already see the anger twitching within his pupils, dilating them violently.

" You delve into that black feeling for one moment and you resurface only to feel a sick pleasure from it. It's time to stop fighting it…let the flame grow." Chris whispered as his face grew closer to Matt's until the taller man could feel his hot breath against his lips.

Matt swallowed hard as Chris gently stroked through his soft hair and trailed his fingers down his neck delicately, causing the younger man to shiver at the amazing feeling. They both stared into each other's eyes, watching the reflection of the fire's light growing brighter and hotter. Chris skimmed Matt's lips with his own gently, allowing those deep blue eyes to flutter closed at the brief contact.

Matt breathed out heavily as he took in Chris's scent, feeling his quivering breath against his face. Matt suddenly felt Chris's forehead touch his and those strong warm hands glided around his jaw, connecting with the back of his neck. It was as if he were feeding him energy, hot burning energy which was causing his cheeks to burn profusely. Matt had no idea what the hell Chris was doing to him but all of a sudden, bursts of sharp images began flashing through his mind.

Images of screaming, bleeding and snapping. His heart leapt with excitement as he saw his own hand reaching into Brian's chest and ripping out his heart; feeling the warm blood trailing down his trembling wrist. Another image, and then another…each becoming more intense and frightening. The sound of snapping bone echoed through his ears and the screaming became louder along with the sound of blood whipping the walls. Sawed off arms, legs, heads and even torsos became a prominent image within his mind, eliciting long streams of perspiration to roll down his neck.

It wasn't long before Matt began panting through the horrific images, his eyes shut tightly until it hurt. Chris dug his nails into the back of Matt's neck while his pulse thumped dangerously fast against his hands.

" That's right…don't fight it…" Chris whispered as Matt continued to feel the pleasurable violence and hate within his own heart. " Let it consume you."

At these words, Matt lowered his head and crashed his lips against Chris's, growling deeply within his chest at the intense images still flooding his senses. Gaining immediate entrance into his warm mouth, Matt grabbed him as tightly as he could and crashed him against the side of a pew; wet muscles battling relentlessly for space.

Matt felt Chris sucking and stroking his soft tongue intensely, which in turn caused him to trail his hands across the older man's perspiring chest. With each violent image, Matt pressed his lips harder against Chris's and violently swirled his tongue within his mouth, almost bruising the Canadian's tongue. Chris gave a low growl of pleasure as Matt scratched at his chest, allowing blood to seep beneath his fingernails.

With the oxygen fading and their panting between kisses increasing, Matt couldn't help but push his hips violently against Chris's, creating a sudden jolt of intense pleasure between them. All civilized thought disappeared as an animalistic instinct kicked in, increasing the bruising around their lips. Matt slowly trailed his kisses across Chris's firm jaw and down to his neck, biting down on the soft perspiring flesh hungrily.

Chris roared out in painful ecstasy and dug his nails into Matt's back. He could feel his own hot blood escaping his skin, stinging sharply as Matt flicked his tongue and sucked around the oozing crimson liquid. He could not stop the sense of blood lust now entering his veins as he tasted the copper liquid and felt Chris's neck twitch violently against him. He was causing him pain…and good fucking God did it feel good.

Just before the younger man could rip the veins and flesh from Chris's neck, a loud slam pierced their senses and caused them to reluctantly stop the murderous lust that burned their slick skin.

Chris gave a low growl and released himself from Matt's grip, glaring at the intrusion of that one man…that fucking bastard. Matt leaned his head away from Chris's bleeding, pulsating neck and licked the blood from his twitching lips…staring at the slowly approaching man who adorned a deep glare of confusion.

Brian eyed them both silently and slowly stopped a few meters away from them, holding that knife tightly within his grasp…

* * *

Thanks to my reviewers: Animal Luvr 4 Life, Dark Kaneanite and Edward's Josie Black

Chapter 19 will be up in an hour or so

Loves ya!

Angel  
xxx


	19. Already Over

**This was may favourite chapter to write. I hope you enjoy reading it.**

**Chapter 19  
**_**Already Over**_

" Sorry, was I interrupting something?"

Those four lust-filled eyes peered into Brian as if they were wolves, hungrily observing their prey. The younger man couldn't help but feel a cold shiver run up his spine and into his neck, indicating that this was not to be a happy reunion. They both shared glares of death which adorned their dark visages and a relentless silence escaped their breath, adding to the already thick atmosphere in the old chapel. Brian nodded a little and looked around, then gave a small wink.

" I'll come back later then." He whispered and began to turn around when Chris's cold voice growled through the darkness, instantly stopping him.

" Actually Bri, you're just in time. We were about to have a little fun."

Brian turned around slowly and faced them both, then turned his vision towards Matt, hoping this was some sort of sick joke. Apparently it wasn't because the taller man just stared at him silently and unmoving with the deepest glare he had ever seen; Chris's blood still trailing down his jaw from his lips.

" Look, I've said this before. What you two do with each other is your own damn business." Brian explained with a small choke of angry laughter. Chris glanced at Matt with a lustful gaze, then returned his sight towards the dirty, perspiring face before him. It was very clear Brian did not want to remain in the chapel with these two men…especially since Matt was acting very strange.

" Now, now Brian…no need to be rude. We'd be willing to let you watch if you'd like. Perhaps then you'd want to join us." Chris sneered with amusement, receiving a disgusted glare from Brian.

" Um, no thanks."

" Oh now I see, you're jealous. Understandable after what _'your'_ Chris did to you in the kitchen several nights ago…and now with Matt. Tsk, tsk…I'd want to kill him too." Chris explained with a lowered head, seeming to shade his glare beneath a dark angry brow.

Brian shook his head and felt his jaw tighten at Chris's words. Had he been right? Was he jealous? No, he couldn't be jealous…what he did with Chris didn't mean anything. He was just cold and Chris was just trying to help him out.

" You're wrong. I'm not jealous. I _am_ pissed off though so I guess it's easy to confuse the two." Brian explained with a low voice. Chris gave a short nod and stuffed his hands in his jean pockets casually, something Chris used to do all the time during a long conversation. Brian's eyes flickered at the movement and a painful pang suddenly throbbed in his heart. God he missed Chris. He missed everything about that sweet person…the way he blushed when he was uncomfortable. The way he chuckled quietly, trying not to hurt his feelings when Brian did something stupid. He'd give anything to have his friend back.

" Right…so that's what they're calling it these days. 'Pissed off.' Chris fucks you and all you can say is…big deal?" Chris asked in disbelief, obviously trying to anger him.

Brian glanced at Matt, receiving no reaction from the man at all. It was as if he were in some sort of trance…just as Chris had been when they thought they had destroyed that creature for good.

" I was cold-."

" –And he just offered to fuck you. Wow, he was a kick ass friend. Too bad he's not here to tell you why he really did it." Chris interrupted suddenly with a casual voice. Apparently he knew something Brian didn't know.

" W-what?" He stammered back, confused as to what the creature was talking about. Chris stepped forward a little and rubbed his chin in thought before replying with a growing smile.

" Not that he had any intention of telling you anyway. He was always too weak to do anything, especially around you. I mean come on Bri, the signs were everywhere! The pushing into cobwebs just so he could fall on top of you, sleeping on your chest, fucking you…I don't think he could have made the message any more obvious." He explained with raised eyes.

Brian found himself frowning with intrigue at his comments. He didn't want to listen to him…after all he could have been tricking him to let his guard down and then attack him. But the concept of finding out this information was far too interesting for him to pass up.

" What message?" he asked quietly, staring into those deep green eyes with curiosity. Chris gave a sly smile and chuckled deeply within his chest.

" He fucking loved you Brian. He worshiped the ground you walked on. He always wanted to be in your presence. Being here was just an awesome opportunity to play out his fantasies of fucking you in some abandoned, dirty building…all alone, cold and wet."

Brian glared in disbelief and nearly choked out the breath from his own lungs with shock.

" See that's where I had to come in and intervene though. He wasn't going to go for it originally but I convinced him otherwise." Chris added quickly, nodding to the side in thought. Brian looked down to the floor for a brief moment, then looked back at him for reassurance. His eyes never wavered from the lowering glare once more and his tone seemed to have been genuine. Was he really telling the truth or was this another method of attack?

" I don't believe you." He breathed out suddenly, clutching the knife tighter for strength. Chris gave him a blank stare and sighed out with annoyance.

" You've really got trust issues."

" You've never given me a reason to trust you in the past. Why should I trust you now?" Brian asked cautiously, eyeing Matt again to make sure he was alright and staying put…just in case Chris had something planned. Something like, turning his friend against him. Chris looked down at the floor and closed his eyes with irritation, then looked back up.

" Why the hell would I lie about that? I could care less how Chris feels about you."

" Then why tell me? What's the poi-wait, 'feels'?" Brian demanded with an arched brow of confusion. Chris suddenly became silent and tightened his jaw with agitation. Another one of Good Chris's qualities when he knows he's revealed too much.

" I told you because I thought you should know how he felt before I rip that head of yours off that neck." He growled suddenly, hoping Brian had missed what he had said before.

" Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up the truck here. You said you could care less how Chris 'feels' about me. He hasn't been destroyed. He's still in there isn't he?" Brian demanded loudly.

" So what, I used the wrong tense." Chris replied angrily; his eyes shivering dangerously with malice.

" Slip of the tongue I guess. Or…would that be of the mind?" Brian asked with a raised brow, feeling his muscles tense with anticipation and anxiety. Chris gave a low growl and stepped backwards so that he was now standing beside Matt. Brian gave a heavy sigh of anger and ran a hand over his head.

" Dammit I hate this! Now I can't leave because Chris is still in there! Why the hell do you have to make my life so fucking hard, bitch?" He demanded ferociously. Chris turned his head towards Matt slowly, then gave a short nod…an indication of some sort. An indication of what though? Brian watched helplessly as Matt began advancing towards him with a cold as ice glare upon his face.

" Uh…hey man, glad you made it. How about you say we shag ass and head for town?" Brian asked nervously, stepping to the side in order to evade his approaching 'friend'. Matt remained silent as Chris watched the scene unfold with admiring eyes. It was like a mentor observing his pupil after months of training. Only there hadn't been months of training…just days of slowly brainwashing without Matt's knowledge. It all began to make sense. Chris's staring, the trance, the rape…it was all to bring out Matt's darker side.

" Well, that's just perfect." Brian muttered sarcastically to himself as he felt the side of the pew hit his lower back.

" I've been waiting to do this for a long time." Matt whispered with a deep growl, extending his arms to reach for Brian's neck.

" Matt, he's been brainwashing you! You are not like him! You have a mind of your own, use i-."

Brian's speech was suddenly cut off by Matt's strong hands gripping his neck tightly and squeezing the breath out of him. Chris watched with lowered eyes of pleasure, watching Brian's face becoming red. Matt gazed into Brian's hazel eyes, watching his pupils constrict to tiny pin points as his air was slowly expanding within his lungs, pushing them painfully without release. Brian lifted his arms with a pitiful attempt to grab onto Matt and push him off but his attempt failed as black spirals and dots began clouding his vision, leaving him light headed and sick.

Brian felt his arms drop to his sides, skimming the soft red carpet below as Matt lowered him over the side of the pew with each vein popping squeeze. His heart pounded excitedly as Brian's face began rippling to a shade of deep purple, cutting off all oxygen. If this continued, Brian would either pass out, die or suffer severe brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain cells. Feeling his entire body becoming increasingly weak, Brian's eyes rolled to the back of his head as Matt gave a sick smile of amusement and joy.

Suddenly, as if a distant prayer had been answered, Brian's fingers skimmed something cold and narrow on the floor. The banister from the stairs leading to the altar…and it had fallen to the floor many years ago due to rust. Weakly, Brian curled his numb fingers around the rod and used all his remaining strength to lift it and strike Matt against the side of the head. It had been a crippling blow and sent Matt tumbling to the floor beside him, eyes closed…bruise quickly forming on his temple like a spider extending its legs. Brian grabbed his own neck and fell to his knees, coughing and gasping for the much needed stale air around him.

Chris peered down at him like a God staring down at an ant; eyes trailing the measly human's feature's as he attempted to suck in the air. His dark blue eyes flickered and flashed with each pass of the eye as he remained still, fully aware that his 'brainwashee' was now unconscious on the floor. Brian looked up at him for a brief second and didn't know whether he was just super pissed or showing mercy for the oxygen deprived human shaking on his knees.

" Okay, I got him. May I please go home now?" Brian asked with a strenuous breath, staring up at the towering man above. Chris stared at him for a few more moments in silence before responding with that icy cold voice, but this time it was softer and more to the point than casual and amused.

" Get up." He ordered.

Brian blinked slowly with confusion and swallowed hard, hearing his soft voice echoing off the stony walls around them.

" And what exactly are you going to do with me once I'm 'up'?" He asked with a cough. Chris never blinked once as he observed Brian's hazel eyes peering into him with expectation and curiosity.

" Get up."

With that, Brian slowly rose to his feet and swallowed through his now aching trachea. He could still feel the burning sensation in his bronchial tubes.

" I don't need to be told twice." He explained with a scratchy voice.

" Apparently you do." Chris growled at him, still with that soft voice. Brian frowned though, feeling something underlying that tone…something almost familiar.

" Okay fine…get it over with. Kill me. Look, here's a knife!" Brian yelled, kicking the bladed object towards him. Chris glanced down at it quickly, then looked back at Brian with a blank stare. There was no glare, nor a twisted angry smile. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and turned off all his emotions.

" Oh and just before you decide to end my life, you might as well tell me why you've ruined Matt's. Why did you choose him? Why the hell was he so special?" Brian spat angrily. Chris stared at him, blue eyes still blazing with hatred…but there was something beneath that hatred.

Desperation.

" Matt was weak. He was easily manipulated. I needed him."

" Needed him for what?"

" To kill you."

Brian gasped out in disbelief and shook his head at his words. After all this shit, now he was telling him he needed someone else to do his own killings.

" You needed Matt to kill me? Why not just do it yourself? Why brainwash him into thinking killing people is fun and pleasurable? Why convince him to embrace his darkness?" Brian demanded.

" We all have a certain darkness within us. Yours however is harder to find. You are strong Brian…you have a strong light." Chris explained slowly, remaining absolutely still where he stood.

" Uh huh, so I've noticed. So again, you needed Matt to kill me why?" Brian asked again with confusion. Why the hell was getting answers out of him like pulling teeth? Chris tightened his jaw once again, another sign of agitation. What else was he hiding? Brian raised his eyes and sighed out loudly.

" Oh good, _now_ you stop talking. Just fucking say it Goddammit! Why can't you kill me yourself?" He nearly shouted, watching Chris's deep blue eyes flashing intensely.

" Because…" Taking a pause, Chris looked up from the floor and blinked slowly at the man before him. He didn't want to say it…but he had to.

" Y-you need t-to…"

Brian frowned instantly as Chris's words wavered emotionally as if he were in some sort of pain.

" Y-you n-need…" Wincing horribly, Chris stumbled back against the side of a pew and took in a heavy breath, feeling a sharp pain in his skull.

" D-dammit no…" He moaned angrily, closing his eyes tightly with intense pain. He felt as if a fire had suddenly begun eating away at his flesh, penetrating his organs.

" What do I need to do!" Brian yelled impatiently, walking towards him as Chris staggered dizzily against the pew.

" H-how is this happening…" Chris whispered in agony, clutching his head with a shaking hand as his spikes trembled and dripped the building perspiration.

" What? What is happening?" Brian demanded, becoming increasingly angry at his mumbling. Why couldn't he just get to the fucking point?

" H-he's regaining c-control…" Chris whimpered helplessly. Sudden realization gripped Brian's heart and caused it to pump furiously. Those soft words, telling him he had to do something…ordering him to get up…it wasn't Evil Chris. After seeing Brian being choked by Matt, Chris... the good Chris must have panicked and regained some strength, pushing the evil away.

Judging by how much pain Evil Chris was in at the present moment, it was obvious that the good Chris was becoming stronger, not wanting any more of his friends to die.

" What do you need me to do?" Brian whispered, watching the sweat roll down his pulsating neck.

" Fuck you." Chris growled, regaining some of his own strength back. It looked as if good and evil were in some sort of battle to the death within their own consciousness.

" Chris…come on man, fight him. Tell me why he can't kill me…why he needed Matt." Brian whispered comfortingly, putting a warm hand on his bare shoulder. Chris roared angrily in pain and gripped the pew tightly for balance.

" I-I…c-can't, won't let him k-kill you."

Brian nodded a little as he recognized Chris's soft voice, melded within the twisted growling and barks that emanated from Evil Chris's throat. He could really hear the two personalities, clashing with each other in unison.

" You needed Matt to do it because you couldn't. Chris wouldn't let you. Is that about right?" Brian demanded, then was shoved violently away by Chris's rough hand.

" Get the fuck away from me!" He screamed with a roar, shaking the stained glass windows around them. Brian approached him again and glared, determined to get to Chris this time…a final time.

" Chris he's getting weaker. Stay focused…like I know you can you fucking workaholic." Brian muttered with a small smile. Evil Chris closed his eyes tightly again as another wave of pain swept through him and he gave a small chuckle…Chris gave a small chuckle.

" Shut your motherfucking mouth you sick son of a bitch!" Of course that it what that chuckle had morphed into, re-establishing Evil's presence once again.

" Chris…I'm not leaving this asylum until you destroy him. Fight that piece of shit." Brian growled. Evil Chris gave a low groan, then a roar…opening his eyes with an inhuman glare.

" It's over you f-fucking whore. I'm g-going to talk pleasure in-kill me!" Brian frowned with shock as Chris's hands grabbed the knife from the floor and forced it into his hands.

" KILL ME!"

" What?" Brian breathed shakily, peering into those…light blue eyes.

" D-dammit Brian, kill me!" He shouted desperately; tears rimming his shaking eyes. Brian grabbed the knife weakly, peering into those soft blue eyes, pleading to him silently.

" C-Chris…"

" H-he won't stop. You need to end it…"

" I-I can't."

" KILL ME!"

Brian watched as Chris's blue brown eyes slowly became dark once again and his pupils contracted painfully as the mind numbing pain coursed through his entire body. Brian stared in shock as Chris fell weakly to the floor, leaning up against the side of the pew…blood oozing from his abdomen and mouth. Brian stared at his own hand, covered in blood…still gripping the knife inside his flesh.

Letting go, he frowned stressfully as Chris growled and thrashed painfully against the pew, reaching for the knife. Brian grabbed his hands and shook his head, swallowed his tears.

" N-no…" he whispered, not wanting him to pull it out. For now, the knife was clotting the hole around his abdomen.

" F-fuck…" Chris stammered painfully, squeezing the tears from the corner of his dark blue eyes. Brian felt his face paling as he pressed his hand around the knife, attempting to stop the blood from sliding out from beneath it.

" Chris…you need to let him go. Don't let him die like this. Let him die a free man." Brian whispered painfully as Chris growled up at him.

" I-I don't w-want to die…" He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut for a small moment then opening them again.

" You don't remember? You lie within us all." Brian explained with a small smile, despite the circumstances. Chris swallowed the blood now freely billowing up his throat and gave a small growl in agony.

" W-within us a-all…" He whispered in acknowledgment.

" Let him go…"

Brian watched as the black slowly faded and he felt slightly sorry for the poor creature. He was like every other being on this earth, good or evil. He wanted to exist. A sudden peace soon fell upon his features and his eyes fluttered dangerously close to being closed. He then gasped and choked out a few gushes of blood, then began shivering. Brian lowered his eyes sadly as he looked up at him…with teary hazel eyes.

" Bri-Brian…"

" Chris?" he asked quietly, wrapping his arm around his neck in order to provide him more comfort.

" I-It's over." Chris whispered with a trembling voice, wincing terribly as the tears began streaming down his cheeks. Brian blinked away a few tears and nodded with a small smile.

" You sure?"

Chris stared up at him and leaned his head back against the pew, letting the blood flow freely out the side of his mouth and down his jaw.

" I'm free…" The older man whispered weakly, gripping Brian's hand around the wound in his abdomen, still blocked by the knife…

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers:** _Tina, Mosvie 2k8, Animal Luvr 4 Life_ **and** _Edward's Josie Black._

**Chapter 20 and the Epilogue will be up in a couple of hours ;-)**

**Loves ya!**

**Angel  
xxx**


	20. Pieces

**Chapter 20  
**_**Pieces**_

" W-what the fuck…"

Brian turned his head towards the stairs by the altar and watched as Matt slowly lifted his head and groaned out a few more obscenities. Brian remained quiet, still fully aware of the shaking body in his arms. Matt opened his eyes and squinted, then brought a shaking hand to the side of his head and gently touched the deep coloured bruise while giving out a heavy sigh.

" Okay…who hit me." He stated angrily, but then his face suddenly dropped as he watched Brian cradling a bleeding, shivering Chris in his arms.

" You don't remember?" Brian asked quietly, feeling Chris's shudders becoming intensely convulsive, then slowly calming. It seemed that every ten seconds, his body temperature dropped with shock, then raised slowly again as his heart struggled to pump the blood around the body.

" Well…I wouldn't have asked if I had remembered. People keep hitting me in the head." Matt explained, trying to remain sympathetic to the shivering Canadian staring at him wearily from Brian's arms. Brian gave a heavy sigh in apology and pushed his hand harder around Chris's wounds, which in turn caused the older man to give a painful squeal followed by a heavy groan.

" I hit you. You tried to kill me. If it's any consolation, you were being brainwashed." Brian explained quietly, giving a short glance towards the taller man who slowly crawled towards them.

" Sorry…" Matt muttered guiltily. Chris glanced up at both men, then squeezed his eyes shut tightly as another scream inducing convulsion swept through him. Suddenly, a long moan from the ceiling echoed around the room, sending streams of dust to fall from the corners of the framing. Brian and Matt looked up, then gravely examined the rotting wooden frames holding up the room.

" Well…this afternoon just keeps getting better and better." Brian muttered sarcastically, realizing that perhaps this building wasn't as well built as they assumed it was.

" Okay, quick question." Matt stated quietly, keeping his eyes on the crumbling dust particles falling to the floor in spurts.

" Do you think there's a chance that the moisture from down here is rotting the wood and that in turn would account for the shaking walls and ceiling thus resulting in the potential cave in of all the floors above us?"

" _That_ was a quick question?" Brian demanded, coughing dust from his lungs.

" Okay excuse me for making a complete sentence." Matt snapped back, then gave a worried look down towards Chris whose eye lids had begun fluttering dangerously…an indication that he was beginning to lose consciousness.

" Chris, how are you doing man?" Brian asked with a tone of warning, gripping him tighter within his grasp.

" C-cold…" He murmured, barely audible to their ears. Matt swallowed hard and gave Brian a grave look, indicating that Chris was losing this fight…and fast.

" Where's that door?"

Brian looked up from Chris's paling face and squinted towards the corner of the room where a lonely door stood, dusty light seeping through the cracks in the boarded up wood.

" Over there. But there's only one problem."

" Which would be?" Matt demanded impatiently.

" Blasting through that thing is going to take two people meaning we're going to have to leave Chris alone for a while." Brian explained shakily, already creating scenarios of Chris's lonely death in his head.

" Brian…we can't leave him alone." Matt breathed out in disbelief, not liking that explanation one bit.

" I know but it's the only way we are going to get out of here-."

" –Brian, we can't just-."

" –There's no other way! Unless you have another idea, I am wide open to suggestions here." Brian explained loudly in panic. Matt stared at him silently for a few moments before finally making up his mind. It was the only way…and he hated it.

" Alright…let's get to work." He replied quietly. Brian nodded and leaned Chris's head to the floor gently as Matt stood up and wearily marched towards the rickety door. Brian stroked through Chris's hair gently with comfort and gave a small smile.

" Alright Chris…Matt and I are going to try to get out of here so we have to leave you alone for a few minutes. Are you going to be okay?" He asked softly, prompting the older man's blue eyes to open slightly with acknowledgment to his voice.

" D-don't leave me…" He whispered pitifully with a choke; the thick copper liquid coating his throat to an unbearable level. Brian lowered his eyes and gave an inward sigh to his pleas. This was probably the worst time to leave Chris alone but they had to…it was their only option unless they wanted Chris to risk his life helping them. Of course that would be nearly impossible because the knife in his abdomen, if moved, could penetrate an organ and kill him instantly.

Unless it had already penetrated an organ and he was now bleeding internally at an intense rate. There was no way to know at this point.

" Chris, you have to be strong…just for a few more moments okay? I know you can hold on. I'll be right back to get you soon." Brian whispered soothingly as he heard Matt kicking the bottom of the door lightly, in an attempt to figure out how damaged the wood covering it was and how much force would be needed to blast it open.

Chris stared up helplessly at his friend, the person he trusted with his own life and gave a short nod while tears of fear streamed down his paling dirty cheeks.

" Alright Chris…just hold on." He whispered again and reluctantly stood up, walking towards Matt who gave him a grave look. Great, that was an optimistic glare.

" What?" Brian asked, opening his arms in question. Matt sighed uneasily and leaned against the door.

" Man, we're gonna need a little more than legs to get this thing open."

" It can be done though, right? The wood is cracked enough."

" Yeah but we need something big and heavy." Matt muttered in thought, looking around the crumbling chapel.

" Well hurry, this place is starting to become a little dustier." Brian hissed impatiently while he observed the crumbling stone of the walls and creaking support beams. Matt ignored his complaint and felt his heart jump while his eyes sparkled intensely at the bench once connected to the wall. It was long…heavy…and made out of wrought iron.

Fucking perfect.

" Hell yes." Matt gasped with relief and walked over to the bench, eyeing it with hope.

Brian joined him and gave him an interested glance while the taller man bent down and shook the bench.

" You think that will work?" Brian asked quickly. Matt sighed out loudly and looked back up at him with scepticism.

" I don't know man, it feels pretty heavy. We might not be able to haul this thing towards the door."

" Well, we can try." Brian breathed out and gripped the side of the bench while Matt grabbed the end.

" Come on muscles, don't fail me now." Brian whispered to his arms as Matt rolled his eyes. Leave it to Brian to talk to his own muscles. It was pointless…but at least it was helping him focus his strength.

" Okay, on three-."

" –Wait, do we lift after three or do we go 'one, two, lift'?" Brian demanded, staring at his friend with a frown. Matt glared at him for a short moment before shaking his head slowly. Why did he pick this one moment to become the dumbass?

" We lift after three." He muttered quietly, still staring at the younger man.

" Alright, should I count…or do you want to?" Brian asked with a blink. Matt grumbled something to himself about hoping Evil Chris would have lived and gripped the bench tighter.

" One…"

Brian glanced at the door intensely and readied himself for the heaviest lift of his life.

" Two…"

Both men swallowed hard while trying to ignore the shaking floor and bent their knees.

" Three!" Using all their strength, they pumped the bench upward about sixty centimetres and sighed out loudly.

" Fucking hell." Brian groaned with a wince as he felt his muscles burning at the strain. Matt breathed out heavily and closed his eyes tightly.

" Alright, let's get the fuck out of here." He stated, then moved his legs forward shakily. Brian pulled the bench roughly as Matt jerked it forward and before long they had a nice rapid pace towards the door. With a loud bang, the wooden boards across the door splintered and cracked…but unfortunately did not break. Both men dropped the bench with a loud thud and nearly collapsed on top of it. Brian breathed out with frustration as Matt coughed roughly, feeling his lungs burning horribly.

" Well…that went well." Matt wheezed, glancing at Brian with pain filled eyes. Brian turned his head towards the long aisle in the middle of the room and frowned with concern.

" Hey Chris…you still with us man?" He shouted, eyeing the pews which were blocking his view from the man on the floor. Nothing but the groaning of the beams above answered his desperate question.

" Chris!" He yelled suddenly with panic, then before he knew it, he was running towards him. He soon fell to his knees beside the younger man and swallowed a large lump in his throat while staring down at Chris's ashen face. His eyes were closed and the shivering had ceased.

" F-fuck…" Brian whispered with agony, feeling his blood run cold. Matt stood up slowly and peered over the pews towards Brian, watching him peering down at Chris's body helplessly.

" Jesus…Chris don't do this." Brian whispered, cupping his warm hands around the greying frozen face. Matt walked towards them slowly and bent down beside Brian, eyeing the soft lifeless features of the Canadian man below. He then placed his hand beneath Chris's nose and frowned suddenly…feeling small spurts of air against his skin. They were faint…but they were there.

" Brian, he's still alive."

Brian looked up from the body and stared at Matt with a deepening glare.

" But he looks-."

" –He's unconscious and lost a lot of blood. His body is shutting down…but if we can warm him up and keep him awake a little longer we may be able to keep him alive." Matt explained quickly, then began rubbing the middle of Chris's chest roughly with his fist.

" Come on Chris…wake up man." He ordered loudly, increasing pressure on his chest. As if a silent prayer had been answered, Chris's eyes fluttered wearily open in pain and he coughed up thick globs of blood.

" Christ…" Brian whispered in relief and watched as Matt pulled off his own shirt and placed it gently over Chris's chest in an attempt to warm him up.

" Okay, I'll sit with him and try to warm him up with my body. Brian, try to find something to get that door down." Matt explained quickly while he pulled Chris into a slight seating position and wrapped his arms around him, holding him against his chest. Of course he made sure that the knife had not moved and that he was not in too much pain. Well the knife hadn't moved…but now he was in such obvious pain it made Matt's eyes water.

Brian nodded with acknowledgment and began searching the chapel for something else to get the door down with. He tried to ignore Mark's mangled body as he walked past the altar towards the east wall, observing something quite peculiar.

" Hey Matt…what kind of standard equipment for fire prevention would have been installed in this building in the late eighties?" Brian asked, staring at the shining object connected to the wall.

" Fire extinguisher…fire blanket…hose, why?" He demanded, not understanding the relevance in his question. Brian gave a small smirk as his hazel eyes twinkled malevolently towards thoughts of that door crashing down in pieces.

" What about an axe?"

Matt looked up from Chris's twisted face of pain and felt his face drop with anxiety and excitement, watching Brian reaching for the bladed object.

" Why the _hell_ didn't we notice that before?" Matt demanded quickly, feeling angry at himself for being so oblivious to the rest of the room.

" Chapel…axe…correct me if I'm wrong but those two don't really seem to fit together. Thank God whoever built this place felt the need to prevent fires and installed an axe in the occasion that the doors would be loc-."

" –Just break that fucking door down!" Matt shouted, startling Chris out of his painful daze.

" Fine…" Brian breathed rudely under his breath and pulled the axe off the wall, then marched towards the door as quickly as he could. He braced himself readily and gripped the axe tightly, eyeing the door with a deep glare.

" This asylum has been a fucking bitch." He growled and swung the blade into the door as hard as he could, hearing an attractive crack emanate from the boards. Matt's eyes gleamed with relief as the first crack seemed to have been loud and debilitating. Brian bit his bottom lip and ripped the axe out of the planks, then swung again, hitting the same spot harder than before and smiled as he was greeted by pieces of flying debris. It was working.

" Hey Matt, you should take a swing…this is kind of fun!"

" Brian would you stop trying to get revenge on the building and focus!" Matt shouted with annoyance and impatience, feeling Chris beginning to shiver once more.

" God…such a control freak." Brian growled under his breath and took another hard swing, cracking the board in half and watched it fall to the floor in pieces. He ripped the axe out once more and was greeted by a large hole, erupting with burning grey sunlight.

" Oh sweet fresh air-."

" –Brian!"

" I'm on it…Jesus, give me a little time to rest my muscles." Brian grumbled angrily.

" Well do it quickly, Chris's starting to lose it here." Matt warned him while he eyed Chris's shaking hands and rolling eyes; the whites becoming more prominent against the blue. Brian gave a heavy sigh and slammed the axe into the wood of the door around the hole and watched as large portions of the oak begin to slam to the ground outside. Of course, it wasn't just outside…they were concrete stairs leading towards the door from above.

Obviously since the chapel was in the basement. A few more whacks with the axe and the door creaked and splintered down, hitting the steps and shattering into long, skinny pieces of wood.

" Take that you son of a bitch." Brian breathed and dropped the axe, then wiped the sweat from his forehead. He squinted through the dull light of outside and then rushed towards Matt's side, observing Chris's convulsions beginning to increase.

" Is he going to make it up those stairs?" Brian asked suddenly, glaring at Matt with concern.

" If we hurry." Matt replied and laid Chris flat on the floor, then grabbed him from under his arms.

" Okay Brian, gently grab his legs and try not to tilt him too much. I don't want that knife moving inside of him." Matt explained. Brian nodded and lifted Chris up by the legs and backed up a little while Matt helped him pull Chris towards the broken door. Just as they reached the stairs, the support beams that had been connected to the door cracked and splintered, then came crashing down to the floor…along with one side of the ceiling.

" Shit!" Brian shouted and quickly pulled himself up a few steps so matt was not beneath the frames as they fell to the floor. A loud crack seemed to echo through the skies as the wooden ceiling of the chapel began losing it's sturdiness and cracked right down the middle. Both men hurriedly marched up the rest of the stairs while carrying Chris and reached the soft patchy grass above.

Smokey dust billowed around the entrance of the chapel, making it impossible to see inside and finally with a loud groan, the ceiling collapsed onto the pews and altar, destroying them instantly while objects from the level above them began pouring and crashing down. With a rapidly increasing pace, Matt and Brian carried Chris through tall grass and around tall Oak trees, then around to the front of the asylum.

Soon they had made their way toward the white van and Matt stopped beside the backseat door, holding Chris up in his arms as Brian went through Chris's pockets to find the keys. Loud booming and cracking filled their ears, making it increasingly difficult to concentrate while searching for the keys. Red brick and wrought irons spires began falling from the top of the building, smacking the gravel car park below. Brian looked up in horror as he realized they were underneath the damage area.

" Brian, hurry the _fuck_ up!" Matt shouted with fright as dusty smoke began billowing out the sides of the asylum.

" I'll hurry up when you shut up!" Brian hissed back, then grabbed something silver connected to a rental keychain. He ripped the key out of Chris's pocket and sighed with relief, running towards the driver side and unlocked the door then proceeded to press the button to unlock all the other doors.

Matt slid the back door open and gently with as much rapidity as possible pulled Chris into the back seat of the van. He then slammed the door shut and watched as Brian started the engine and pulled the van into gear. Just as he was about to press the gas, a long spire fell from the roof of the building and fell onto the ceiling of the van, denting it dangerously close to the passengers within.

" Jesus…how many times are we almost going to die today." Brian growled angrily and pressed the gas as hard as he could, jolting the vehicle forward and to the side; spattering gravel behind them into all different directions. Matt tried to hold onto Chris as tightly as possible as the van was sent flying into all directions because of the gravel.

" Brian, learn to drive." He stated with irritation as blood began spilling from Chris's half open mouth.

" Fuck you Matt, this isn't exactly a paved road." Brian hissed back, staring into the rear view mirror. He glanced at the words: David Bethlem Manor on the sign at the front of the building and watched as they crumbled to the ground along with the brick that surrounded it. A sense of pride and accomplishment buzzed through his veins and he turned his vision back to the front of the vehicle…then felt his heart beginning to race at a dangerous level.

" Bri-."

" –Yeah I see it." He replied, staring at the nearing closed wrought iron gate.

" Is there any way around it?" Matt asked hopefully, but frowned as brian gave a small laugh and shook his head.

" Hold onto something."

Matt gripped Chris tightly with one arm as he gripped the seat in front of him with the other. Brian pressed harder on the gas, hearing the engine revving loudly and he sat back against the seat, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles became white. Matt and Brian flinched as the van pounded into the gate with a heart stopping speed and the gate doors flung open, twisting backward behind them as they flew into the ravine from the small hill beneath the gate and smacked the road below with a clang and heavy jolt.

The engine revved a little lower as Brian let out a long and heavy sigh, relaxing his grip on the steering wheel. Matt stared at the seat in front of him with wide eyes as everyone remained silent among the roaring engine. They made it. Brian glanced in the mirror again and looked back at Chris, whose head was leaning back against the head rest at an uncomfortable angle and the blood continued to trail down his jaw. He was barely conscious and his convulsions were becoming violent. Matt held him tighter and swallowed his fear, silently hoping Chris would make it to the hospital…alive.

" Brian…step on it."

* * *

**Thanks to my reviewers:** _Edward's Josie Black, TVL, Animal Luvr 4 Life, Dark Kaneanite_ **and** _wrestlefan4_

**Loves ya!**

**Angel  
xxx**


	21. Three Months Later

**Epilogue  
**_**Three Months Later**_

Birdsong echoed through the trees and around the houses of the densely populated suburban area. Despite the rows upon rows of neighbourhoods and meandering cul-de-sacs, it was a peaceful and quiet environment to live in. Brian lifted up the sleek black hood of his car and slowly began unscrewing the cap for the bottle of windshield wiper fluid. He had had quite the slow three months, putting a down payment on a new house, buying a new car as well as new clothes…all of course at separate times.

It seemed that after what had happened three months ago, he needed a change…a new beginning. He hadn't heard much from Matt lately and didn't exactly know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He was aware that Matt had been taking care of Chris after he had been discharged from the hospital but their communication had almost ceased since then.

The last he heard, Chris was on heavy sedatives at home and spent most of the day asleep. Brian didn't ask for much on his condition and figured that Chris needed some time to recuperate without being hoarded by friends at his house while he was still groggy and half asleep from the pain medication. Pouring the windshield wiper fluid into the appropriate place, Brian examined the rest of the contents below the hood. He loved this car…it was so perfect and drove so smoothly.

There wasn't a day that went by he didn't roll down his window to let the fresh air enter his lungs. There were even moments when he found it hard to remember what that asylum had smelled like, all that mould they had breathed in…all that rotting air. But there were some nights when his dreams were filled with horrors; horrors he had seen and heard while confined to that God awful place.

Sometimes if he was alone in a room at home, just sitting in the kitchen reading, he could swear he heard the sounds of his friends screaming long into the night. But he tried not to let it affect him. He tried getting a hobby, something to distract his thought but he found it difficult since he was not able to put what happened at the asylum behind him. Perhaps this was because he had not seen Chris in almost over three months and he knew not if he was alright.

Was he permanently damaged by what had happened or too scared to even leave the house? There were so many unanswered questions, especially about his past and how he had escaped the asylum when he was younger. Brian frowned and tinkered around under the hood in thought while giving a heavy sigh. Maybe it was as simple as his Aunt coming back to get him…perhaps the doctors had deemed him cured when the asylum was shut down. Again, so many unanswered questions.

" Nice car!"

_Bang._

Brian's head smacked into the hood with a painful start and he cursed under his breath at the new throbbing feeling entering his skull. After finally realizing who had yelled those two words, his eyes instantly softened and he pulled his neck out from under the hood. Brian was greeted by a wide smile, dimpling those chiselled, tanned cheeks with a child-like innocence. He stared into those sparkling blue…amused…eyes and gave a small frown.

" H-hey Chris." Brian stuttered, still a little surprised that Chris was now standing there with his hands stuffed in his pockets and an observing gaze in his eyes.

" Thought I'd drop by for a while. Matt was driving me insane at my house so I decided to sneak out while he was taking a nap. I hope you don't mind the intrusion." He explained cheerfully with that soft casualness in his voice. Brian shook his head and gave a small smile.

Really, he was jumping for joy inside because he was so excited to see his best friend smile again. After taking a short moment in thought, he decided to remain calm and not smother him with hugs and cry into his shoulder like a baby. After all, he didn't want to scare him.

" It's no intrusion. I was actually hoping you'd stop by. I haven't seen you in like…forever." Brian explained quietly, then dropped the hood with a careful smack. Chris nodded a little and leaned against the side of his car, crossing his arms.

" Yeah well... Matt wouldn't let me leave the house for three months. I swear, he baby fed me every day. It's like he thinks I've never used a fucking fork before! Another day like that and I'd have gone insane." He explained with an irritated voice, despite the small smile of amusement still creeping against his soft lips.

Brian frowned a little at his words and briefly wondered if he had remembered everything. It would have been creepy as hell if he did. " Insane huh…" He muttered in response and rubbed his face wearily. He could still remember the look of scepticism on the doctor's faces when he had told them that Chris had gotten the stab wound because he had fallen onto the knife. From there, the lies increased as the rest of the guy's families had been told that their precious loved ones had been in a severe car accident while on the way to the photo shoot.

Their bodies had never been recovered because the 'car had exploded'. Brian was actually surprised when the their families believed them. Later on, Matt and Brian had found out that the photo shoot crew had been stuck in the London airport due to a snow storm and could not make it to the location of the shoot. They had been later fired after the funerals of Shawn, Jeff and Mark. It had been a horrible three months of regret, sorrow and anger. So many shitty days of wondering what went wrong and how all of that could have happened. Brian could still feel the sickening twist in his stomach as he remembered getting into that van in the first place.

" Listen, thanks for saving me from Matt. I'm gonna go raid your fridge if it's alright with you. I'm about sick of chicken noodle soup and bread." Chris chuckled and began meandering into Brian's house after receiving a small laugh and a nod from him. Just as he was about to follow him into the house, he heard a loud shout and quickening steps up his driveway. Brian turned around to see a frantic looking Matt advancing towards him.

" Where the hell is he? Is he here? Did he come here?"

" Matt slow down."

" Chris was supposed to stay in bed! I have been trying to get him to sit down for the past month now and he's been running around the house like a headless chicken!" Matt explained loudly while crossing his arms. Brian couldn't help but laugh at his friend as he stood there panicking over nothing.

" Matt, he was probably running around because he was tired of sitting around all day. He's a workaholic remember? He needs to get things done or he'll throw himself out a window. You know how he is."

" Brian that man has been uncooperative since the moment he left the hospital." Matt explained with a glare.

" He thinks you've been babying him. I suggest you stop before he goes all psycho on us again."

" That's not funny." Matt replied, looking slightly upset by that last remark. Brian gave a small nod of apology but just couldn't help himself from trying to create humour in an uncomfortable situation. What they all needed now was a little humour. Besides, humour never killed anyone.

" Sorry. By the way, does Chris remember anything?" He asked curiously, cocking his head in question. Matt shook his head and watched Brian's eyes flood with relief.

" Nope. I told him he was in a car accident with the rest of the guys and managed to get out alive. He was pretty broken up about it for a few days but after a while he told me that being upset wasn't going to bring them back and moving on was the best thing for him to do."

Brian nodded with agreement and gave a small smile.

" Well, I think he's handling it better than us."

" What do you mean?" Matt asked, frowning deeply at his comment.

" Well, I can't survive one day without being with my lovely new car to distract me from that…that place and you have completely lost your mind when it comes to being around Chris. How many times do I have to tell you he hates it when people check up on him every five minutes?"

" It wasn't every five minutes…it was every fifteen minutes." Matt pointed out, feeling slightly insulted that Brian was analysing him.

" Fine, whatever man. I'm going inside. Would you like to join us?" Brian asked as he began walking towards the front door. Matt sighed heavily and followed him inside to the kitchen where Chris was sitting on Brian's lap top while the TV blared in the corner. Matt sat down across from Chris and glared at him while Brian leaned against the counters and squinted at the volume of the TV.

" Hey Chris, are you deaf yet?" Brian shouted over the noise

Chris smiled as he typed and shook his head a little.

" I live for loud distracting noises. It makes me feel cosy."

Of course it would after being locked in an abandoned mental asylum for so many days in silence. Matt sighed out heavily and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

" Chris I thought I told you to at least stay on the couch for a few more days."

Chris rolled his eyes and continued typing as Brian began looking through his own fridge and of course found nothing. Apparently Chris hadn't either because he wasn't eating anything.

" Matt I told you like a bazillion times that I was fine. Now I understand that you have an uncontrollable instinct to baby me and I accept that. I am damn cute. But you have to let go man! Let the bird out of his nest!"

Matt gave him a cold stare and bit his lips before replying.

" Fuck you Chris."

" I thought you might respond that way. Now would you please leave me the fuck alone? I got work to do."

Brian chuckled inwardly to their squabble and couldn't help but blush. It sounded as if everything was slowly returning to normal…except without Shawn's immaturity, Mark's annoyance and Jeff's aggressiveness. Even though they weren't there, Brian found himself quite content given the situation. At least he still had two of his best friends, however annoying and loud they may be. Brian's ears suddenly burned and perked as the voice of a news reporter began blaring on the television. His face suddenly fell and grew pale as he listened to what she was saying.

" _Today marks the 206th anniversary of the massively beautiful building that had opened in the year 1800. David Bethlem Manor had become infamous for providing care to hundreds of patients during the 1800s to the late eighties and had become a well known landmark in Scotland. Although the manor had closed down in 1986 and unfortunately very recently became victim to two hundred years of damage, we still celebrate what that building stood for, the care that was given and the staff that worked so hard to provide a comfortable and safe environment for the mentally i-."_

Brian smacked the button on the television and remained frozen in place while praying to God that Chris hadn't been paying attention. Matt remained silent and stared at Brian with a grave look upon his face, obviously hoping for the same thing. Chris looked up from the screen of the laptop, obviously disturbed by the sudden silence and gave a slight glare.

" Why'd you turn that off?" He asked quietly with a soft voice. Brian swallowed hard and slowly returned to the kitchen, glancing briefly at Matt before he replied.

" You know what? I think I like the peace and quiet." He explained, trying to act as casually as possible. Chris blinked slowly and raised a brow, before going back to whatever it was he was doing on the laptop.

" Whatever floats your boat." He whispered and continued typing furiously. Matt let out a soft sigh of relief, glad that Chris had not even reacted to the mention of that asylum. After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, Chris closed the laptop and stretched, then stood up with a sigh.

" Bri, I'm gonna go use your shower, if that's alright."

" Yeah sure man." He replied with a smile and watched as Chris made his way up the stairs to the bathroom. Brian sat down at the table across from Matt and gave a heavy sigh in thought before he began to speak.

" You know, for the past few months…I've been thinking-."

" –Uh oh, that can't be good." Matt interrupted with a small smile.

" Not funny jackass. I'm serious. I've been thinking about what Evil Chris said in the chapel…about how Chris…felt about…me."

Matt stared at him for a long moment and gave a small frown.

" You don't remember…" Brian whispered, looking down at the table.

" No…I remember that. And I think he was right." Brian looked up from the table and peered into Matt's eyes for what seemed like an eternity before he began elaborating.

" Chris _does_ love you. He practically worships you even. He's your friend…of course he would. But you know, maybe that love is entirely plutonic in a sense that he loves you as a friend. Whatever Evil Chris meant by it…could have just been a way to distract you. Trust me, he was a manipulative bastard." Matt explained quietly while hearing the water running upstairs. Brian nodded with a small smile and sighed inwardly, not sure if he was disappointed by Matt's explanation or relieved. One thing was for sure, he didn't need anymore confusion in his life.

" Yeah…you're probably right."

After about an hour, Matt had decided to turn back on the TV in order to alleviate his boredom, leaving Brian sitting in the kitchen by himself. It seemed that Chris had been taking his sweet time in the shower and by the second hour, Brian started getting worried. How long could it possibly take for one man to shower. It wasn't long before Brian found himself quickly walking upstairs and stopping in front of the door to the bathroom. The water had been turned off and he heard dripping smacking the tile floor below. He frowned a little and swallowed hard, feeling his heart beginning to race.

" Chris?"

A few minutes passed and he heard nothing but that dripping. There was no movement from inside the bathroom, which increased his heart rate even to the point where he could hear it throbbing in his ears.

" Chris!" He shouted, pounding on the door. Again, there was no response. Brian's eyes lowered fearfully and he decided to grip the doorknob. Slowly, he turned it finding it to be unlocked and slowly creaked the door open. His heart froze in his chest as he stared at Chris, standing there shirtless in front of the mirror, peering at his own reflection emotionlessly in silence. Brian had no idea what to make of this and wondered why the hell he wasn't moving or even reacting to his presence in the bathroom.

He quickly glanced into the mirror and stared into Chris's eyes, making sure he wasn't seeing that horrible blue/black colour that still haunted his dreams to this day. Relaxing a little at the familiar blue colour, he leaned against the doorframe and frowned with confusion. Soon, Chris's voice began to echo around the bathroom…softly.

" For three months I've stared at this wound in my abdomen and no matter how hard I try, I just can't remember what happened. It's like one day you wake up and get a cup of coffee, you blink and all of a sudden you're lying in bed with Matt attentively at your side with a book and a worried expression on his face."

Brian gave a small smirk at his words and observed his delicately soft features as he spoke.

" I know something happened…I know I was injured and that Shawn, Mark and Jeff aren't here anymore but it's like my brain is shutting itself off from whatever happened. I kind of feel like a computer that can't access a file after being smashed by a hammer."

Brian remained silent as Chris blinked slowly at his own reflection and gave a heavy sigh of defeat.

" Maybe I don't really want to know what happened to me…or anyone else for that matter. Maybe its better this way you know? Less pain."

Brian's smile grew slowly as he watched Chris pull on his shirt, covering the newly forming scar in his abdomen.

" I'm just glad you're alright."

Before Chris could even turned his head, he felt Brian's arms wrap around him in a tight hug that nearly forced the air out of his lungs.

" Ugh, okay hi." He whined painfully while Brian took comfort in Chris's half laugh, half cough.

" Chris…no more photo shoots." He stated, knowing full well that this statement would confuse the older man for God knows how long.

" Uh…okay?" He answered cautiously, wondering if his friend had now lost his mind.

" Good." Brian smiled and patted him on the back before releasing him from his grip. Chris gave a small frown and eyed Brian suspiciously with confusion. Given Chris's reaction to the hug, it became apparent that that 'love' was definitely plutonic.

" Sorry, did I hurt you?" Brian asked with a laugh.

" No…just…next time you want to hug someone, warn them." Chris replied, walking past him and then down the stairs. Brian sighed with content and couldn't help but smile. Chris was back to his old 'afraid of awkward hugs' self and Matt was downstairs now fighting with him for the remote. As he walked downstairs and observed the two smacking each other and complaining, he began to wonder if everyone really did have some sort of darker side to be fought with.

Perhaps we all have some sort of dark flame, struggling to grow hotter within ourselves. One thing Brian knew for sure, was that with these two idiots now rubbing their bruises and glaring with malevolent smiles, they were going to be alright. They'd all be alright.

" Hey Bri, we want pizza. What kind do you want?" Chris asked as he reached for the phone. Brian gave a heavy sigh and watched Chris's blue eyes gleaming with hunger and amusement as Matt continued to grumble about who had power over the remote.

" Bri?" Chris asked again with a laugh as Matt now attempted to grab for the phone. Brian blinked at his smile and chuckled at their buffoonery. Everything wasn't exactly completely back to normal but…it was getting there.

" Surprise me."

* * *

**I want to thank all of those that reviewed, you all know how much I love it when you review hand out Undertaker shaped cake. Without you, I don't think I would bother to write.**

**I'm starting a new fic, it'll be posted on Monday.**

**Love you all!!**

**Angel  
xxx**


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